


Sesshomaru's Darkest Hour

by SonjaJade



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-15
Updated: 2012-06-15
Packaged: 2017-11-07 19:43:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 28,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/434673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonjaJade/pseuds/SonjaJade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sesshomaru's a cold calculating man who'll stop at nothing to get what he wants, even if what he wants is Kagome. But what lengths will he go to and are they worth it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In the Still of the Night

**Author's Note:**

> This was the very first InuYasha fan fic I'd ever written and it's pretty awful ^__^" But I moved EVERYTHING from my ff.net account over, even this horrible piece of work, so just keep in mind this is NOT how I write now XD

"Damn it InuYasha!" Kagome yelled as she angrily slung her backpack into an unsuspecting tree trunk, where it thudded and then landed on the grass beneath. "Why do you always hog the freaking potato chips!"

InuYasha, who in his mind was eternally blameless for anything, merely glared at her. His silence was not helping his cause. However, he was just tired of the endless bickering and decided not to throw any unnecessary fuel on the fire.

Out of sheer frustration, Kagome crawled over to where he sat, grabbed his chin, and made him look her in the eye. "I said," she grumbled, "Why. Do you. Hog. All. The damn. Potato chips." Her velvety brown eyes were seething mad. Her nostrils were flaring, and her cheeks were rosy pink with anger.

InuYasha suddenly smiled and batted his long lashes. "I. Fucking. Love them. Get. Off. My back."

Sango and Shippo gasped as Kagome backhanded him as hard as she could. InuYasha stared back at her blankly, obviously hurt but too stubborn to say so. Just because she hated that stupid look on his face, she slapped him again. He still said nothing, did nothing. She drew back to hit him a third time and InuYasha stopped her by grabbing her wrist.

"Strike me again and I'll kill you."

Determined as ever, she raised her free hand, meaning to hit him anyway. His eyes flashed red briefly, and Kagome felt his grip on her wrist tighten considerably.

"InuYasha!" Miroku cried out. Sango was already in motion and tackled Kagome as Miroku's distraction loosened InuYasha's grip. Kagome lay pinned under Sango, while Miroku struggled to contain an irate hanyou with only his monk's staff.

"Everyone just stop it already!" Shippo cried. "Everyone is hurting everyone else and it's all because of you two!" He was jumping up and down and growling to himself, pulling at his hair and crying. "This bullshit's gotta end!"

"I agree," Sango said as she slowly let Kagome up. "This endless arguing has to stop if we are to defeat Naraku and retrieve the rest of the Shikon no Tama."

"When did this all start anyways?" Miroku pondered aloud. Reluctantly, he released InuYasha. "We were going along fine and it seems we gradually got mired in a silly disagreement that never resolved itself."

"Oh come on!" the little kitsune raved. "Why don't we all cut the crap around here! Okay look, seeing how I've got all your attentions, lets just air out all our laundry at once and get over it."

InuYasha remained silent, not trusting himself to do anything but stand and listen to the little demon. Kagome sat on the ground as Sango patted her on the shoulder. "And just what do you know about it, Shippo? What do you think is going on here?" she asked in an exasperated tone.

"Once upon a time there was a sacred jewel that got shattered and a jackass named InuYasha and girl from the future named Kagome were paired together by fate to go looking for the pieces so they could put it back together. After a while it became apparent that the two were head over heels for each other, but both of them were too stubborn to admit it. Of course, it didn't help that the jackass's dead girlfriend was resurrected as the living dead, and an arrogant ass of a wolf demon wanted to lay claim to the girl. And then in their travels they were joined by a lecherous monk and a demon slayer, who also soon fell in love with each other, but they too were too stubborn to admit it. So here's the freaking end of the story:"

"INUYASHA! KAGOME LOVES YOU!" Shippo was screamed as he silently sobbed. "AND KAGOME, HE LOVES YOU BACK!"

InuYasha stood ready to deny the claim, but Miroku touched his sleeve and said, "It's true, we all know this, InuYasha." The monk looked down at Kagome and said quietly, "You too, Kagome. Sango, Shippo and I all know how you both feel about each other."

They both were silent. She, on the grass with her mouth open and him standing slightly behind her, arms crossed defiantly into his sleeves. All the cards were now on the table, all the wagers wide open for all to see. They had been stripped down to their cores, and so they were silent.

Then Shippo looked at Sango and Miroku. "Miroku, Sango is hurting deeply because of Kohaku, and she might try to make you think that she can't love anyone else until she ends what is hurting him. But that's not true because she loves you, too. She gets so mad at you when you act like a lecher in front of her because she wants you to be hers."

Now that the attention had been focused elsewhere, Kagome spoke in a quiet shaky voice, "Yes Miroku. Sango loves you very much." InuYasha was nodding in agreement.

"And you. The most sane of all of us. Miroku cannot help that Mushin had a taste for women, he was essentially raised that way. But he only truly wants to be with you. He would rather be with you and not have any children than to be with any other woman and have a dozen." Sango shifted uneasily at Kagome's side, blushing deeply.

Shippo stood there, tears streaming down his face. "You are my family. You let anger overpower your love for one another. If you're trying to keep your feelings a secret, it's no use. We all know one another too well for that don't you think? InuYasha, we know that you sometimes go through the well to watch Kagome sleep when she's in her time. We know how bad you miss her when she's gone, even though you've never said anything to us about it. And Kagome, we know how frustrating it is when you go through the trouble to wear something nice or do something with your hair and he doesn't even tell you how wonderful it is. Sango, Miroku, we all know how you both sometimes wish for the other to touch your hand or smile a smile just for you to see. We all know about it! It's not even a big deal! So just get it out in the open already!"

Everyone looked at Shippo with rosy embarrassed cheeks. Kirara was once again kitten size and she mewed quietly at Shippo's side, encouraging someone, anyone to speak. Finally, the silence was broken.

"He's right," InuYasha said. "I've been a jackass, and I should have come right out and let you know how I felt about you from the start Kagome. I was wrong to ever think I could win your heart by being a fucking jerk." He walked slowly to where she sat and knelt down beside her, the handprints still very visible on his face. He slowly and awkwardly reached out to stroke her cheek with the back of his hand. "I love you."

Kagome trembled. Her eyes were wide and glistening with tears. Minutes passed, and InuYasha continued to lightly run the back of his hand over her pretty cheek, accepting that it may take days before she would even speak to him, after he had treated her the past couple of weeks. Sango squeezed her shoulders and said "Kagome, this is the moment you've been waiting a very long time for. Don't you have something to say to InuYasha?"

She turned to Sango and blinked, as if to ask, 'Do you really think I should?' Sango nodded to her, saying, "It's okay, Kagome. Shippo is right. We all know."

Kagome got to her knees and kissed InuYasha. Tears fell from her eyes as they shared their first true embrace, one that rivaled the one she witnessed between InuYasha and Kikyo when she was stuck to that damn tree. He held her tightly and kissed her sweetly, and then whispered in her ear, "I was such an ass Kagome. Please forgive me."

"I am just as much to blame as you, InuYasha," she whispered back. "Just please don't let me go."

They stayed that way, kneeling in front of each other, locked in a tender hug, until finally Kagome's legs started getting tingly. Shippo cleared his throat loudly and looked at Sango and Miroku.

"Don't you think you guys have some business to get to?" The little kitsune was funny looking, with his hands on hips like a little mother.

"Oh, right!" Miroku took Sango's hand. Her face instantly glowed red. He smiled at her and said, "Forgive me if I am being too forward, my lovely young traveling companion," he looked down at his feet and grinned slyly. "You see, I am looking for a wife, one who will be a great partner in all of my endeavors, a good woman who will help bring balance to my life and joy to my soul. Oh, and to bear my children." They shared a quiet chuckle. "Sango," he pulled her close to him, "my beloved, would you do me the honor of becoming my bride?"

Sango gazed into his blue eyes. She saw his honesty reflected in them, and felt his heart racing as he waited for her answer. "Do you promise to never ask another woman to bear your children?"

"Yes."

"And do you promise to stand by me no matter what the situation is with Kohaku?"

"Of course, my love."

"Then take me into your heart forever. I will be your bride."

She leaned in to kiss him, but she was stopped as Miroku closed his eyes and said a prayer. "Thank you Kami for the gift of my Sango. It has taken this a long time to happen, and now I am complete." He then took her in his arms and kissed her passionately.

In fact, a little too passionately. Before long, InuYasha stood whistling absently and Kagome had turned away from them to play with Shippo's hair. Finally Kirara began mewing quietly, and when that didn't work, she transformed and growled louder.

They separated, flustered and embarrassed, but still holding hands. Miroku appeared to be breathless, and Sango… Well if she turned any redder she would have been considered a tomato.

"Sorry everyone," she breathed. "That was a long time coming is all."

"Doesn't everyone feel better now? Like all the hiding and pretending is over?" Shippo exclaimed. "Doesn't this feel more right?"

The two couples agreed with their tiny friend. "You know what this calls for?" Kagome asked. "A group hug!"

"What is that?" asked Shippo.

"Everyone get in a close circle," she instructed. "Now everyone put your arms around the person on either side of you, yes like that! Now everyone, squeeze!"

The aggression and tension that had been building for weeks was finally gone, and they broke into laughter as InuYasha squeezed a certain kitsune a little too hard.

"Hey, since we're already in a circle, let me show you something we used to do when I was a little girl in my time." Kagome led them in a round of Ring around the Rosie, and then showed them how to play Duck, Duck, Goose. Before anyone knew it, it was sunset and time for dinner. Kagome and Sango prepared the boar that InuYasha had slain that evening, and they all filled their bellies to the top. After they'd eaten, Miroku pulled a long pipe from his kimono.

"I didn't know you smoked," InuYasha said, sniffing at the tobacco.

"Well, I figured the time for secrets between us has ended. Would you like to try it?" He offered the pipe to InuYasha, who took it hesitantly. "Well, go on, take a draw."

InuYasha put the pipe to his mouth and drew in a puff of smoke, rolling it around in his mouth, tasting it. It had a woody flavor to it, but rich and sweet, not like a house burning down. It had a little bit of a bite, and InuYasha liked that part the best.

Miroku laughed at the hanyou, who seemed to be eating rather than smoking. "Draw the smoke into your lungs silly! That's the whole point of smoking!"

InuYasha inhaled the smoke and began coughing immediately. His eyes became bloodshot, and his face turned red. He coughed and gasped and coughed some more, blowing little tendrils of smoke out of his mouth. Finally he laid on the ground and simply breathed the night air. "How the hell can you do that without coughing?"

Miroku chuckled. "Years of practice."

"Damn. There isn't much in this world I just can't handle, but that pipe is one of them, and that curry stuff Kagome makes is another." He sat up. "So, now that we've gotten all that tension out of the way, where do you think Naraku is holed up now?"

"I don't know. He's very vulnerable right now. I propose we go towards the ravine in the north. The canyons have caves and there are lots of places to hide there. Maybe we'll get lucky and Kagome will sense the jewel." Miroku drew on his pipe and blew out a series of smoke rings.

"Hey that's neat Miroku!" Shippo squealed.

"Can you make any other shapes?" Kagome asked.

"Hmmm… I haven't tried it in a long time. Let's see." Miroku puffed again, pulled at his lips a bit and blew. Out came a perfectly formed heart. It grew larger until the gently night breeze blew it away.

Sango sat next to him now. "You are quite talented, my love. I am happy to see you happy tonight." She kissed him on the cheek.

"I'm glad you all came to your senses." Shippo snuggled up to Kirara near the fire. "It was about damn time you all quit hiding everything. Now we will be closer than ever and will be harder for Naraku to stop." He yawned. "You'll see. Naraku will have one hard time with us now." He was soon snoring quietly.

The others gazed up at the moon and hoped he was right.

_And so today, my world it smiles,  
Your hand in mine, we walk the miles,  
Thanks to you it will be done,  
For you to me are the only one._

That same night, Sesshomaru also gazed at the moon. He heard Rin's quiet snores as she slept peacefully on Ah-Un's back, and could hear Jakken's insane little mumblings as he tossed in his sleep. He could hear the wind whispering through the leaves in the trees, and it made him think of the wind whispering through Kagome's hair.

The only time that he was close enough to hear it he was seconds away from killing InuYasha. She had stopped him from doing it, and in the instant she held his gaze, he was transformed. He remembered every detail from that single moment in time, like he had trapped it in a jar and spent hours memorizing it. She was as lovely a thing as anything he'd ever seen. The sun shone in her eyes and the wind whispered in her hair. Her short skirt ruffled in the breeze slightly, and her scent was mesmerizing. He felt her feisty nature within every heartbeat that reverberated through the air.

In fact, he had gone to that very same spot the next day just to smell her scent on the grass where she had stood. The very thought of that fragrance nearly brought him to his knees now, as he stood staring back at the disc of silver in the sky.

He now thought back on how he had succumbed to Rin and her charm, and wondering if it was her coming to him that had broken his icy cold heart down enough to allow his feelings for Kagome to surface. He reached into his haori, and pulled out a small bundle of grass and inhaled its sweet summer smell. It had been made from the grass that Kagome has stood on that day, and it still held her scent, even though it was indeed faint.

It would be time to get a new bundle soon. And he knew InuYasha's group was only about a half a day to the south west. Sesshomaru thought it might be time to do a little back tracking and pick up a fresh gathering of her scent, the scent of a young miko from another time, the miko his half-breed brother supposedly had claimed for his own.

"What could she possibly see in him," he wondered aloud. He began to sulk, knowing that even if he slayed his brother, she would not come to him. She would see him as someone who took away her lover, and he would never be able to get her. She'd go to that wolf scum Koga before she would come to Lord Sesshomaru, Inu no Tashio, Lord of the Western Lands.

But if it were the other way around…

And if this Sesshomaru were making a truce between his idiot half-breed brother and his wretched band of travelers, joining forces to help finish the hunt for Naraku and the sacred jewel…

A tiny smile grew on his lips. He was going to steal her right from under him. And he was going to make sure InuYasha found his death in the process, as well as likely put an end to that filthy Koga.

It was not going to be easy. And it was going to require a lot of legwork to get it done between lying to that band of idiots Kagome called friends and buying off the stinking wolf demon, whom he would naturally kill as soon as InuYasha was dead, all to seal the deal on Kagome's heart.

He allowed himself a laugh. How easily people could be manipulated. He was sure his plan would not fail. Koga's arrogance assuming Kagome would love him no matter what, and InuYasha's arrogance period.

"Lord Sesshomaru?" Rin called.

He turned to her in the dark and spoke quietly, putting the small bundle of grass back into his haori. "Yes, Rin?"

"I'm thirsty, may I get a drink from the stream?" She wiped at her eyes sleepily.

"Yes. I will go with you." He took her hand and walked towards the babbling brook. Her hair was sticking out everywhere, and he gently smoothed it out for her as they walked.

"You seem happy tonight, my Lord," she yawned. "What are you thinking of?"

Sesshomaru smiled to himself in the dark, not wanting to let on to her what he had planned. "I was thinking of happy things, Rin."

They reached the stream and she dipped her hands into the icy waters and drank deeply. "Happy things like sunshine and butterflies and Master Jakken falling on his behind?"

"Rin," Sesshomaru scolded, "Jakken falling down is not a happy thing." He grinned down at her. "It makes him slow and whiny, and we both know how much fun that is."

Rin giggled, and having had her fill to drink, she once again took Sesshomaru's hand as they walked back to their camp. He set her gently back on Ah-Un's saddle and bid her goodnight again. Another thought occurred then, that Kagome would be a wonderful mother to his adopted daughter.

Satisfied that all was well, he climbed into a tree and slept for a while himself. He was going to need all the rest he could get in order to pull it all off, and there was no time like the present to start.


	2. Nothing Else Matters

"Rin," Sesshomaru said as she sat eating on Ah-Un's back.

"Hmm?" She had a mouthful of melon at the moment.

"How would you like to play a secret game with me?" Sesshomaru thought in the night that he would have to make the young child understand what was going on, but also be able to keep his true purpose a secret, should one of Kagome's idiot friends decide to question the girl about Sesshomaru's true intentions. He thought he'd figured a way to make it all work.

"A game, my lord? We've never played a game before!" She was excited and eager to please the demon that had saved her life. And a game is just what a child loved best.

"That's because this is the only game worth playing. We are going to play a game called Trick-em-all."

"Trick-em-all?" she asked as she took another bite.

"Yes. We're going to trick some people, but first we have to trick ourselves. Do you think you can play with me?" Sesshomaru had confidence in her. Rin was an intelligent and obedient child, and he counted on not having a problem with her at all. Jakken on the other hand, he was full of doubt and worry as it was, and so he was not going to be invited to play.

"Oh that sounds like a fun game, Lord Sesshomaru!" She clapped her hands together. "How do we play?"

"First, it's a secret. We can't tell Jakken anything." He spun around and looked her in the eye. "Understand me well, Rin. We cannot breathe a word to him. We will lose the game if we do."

Rin was a little frightened, and it showed on her face. "Okay, L-lord Sesshomaru. I won't tell Jakken."

"We have to trick Jakken. He is the first person we have to trick, so it is very important, deathly important, that we don't tell him about our game." For effect, he added, "You don't want us to lose do you?"

"Oh no, Lord Sesshomaru! I want us to win!" She smiled at him. "I promise not tell him anything at all!"

Sesshomaru nodded. This was all going to work out. "Good. I knew you were the best partner to pick for this game. We are going to trick Jakken into thinking that I am not mad at InuYasha anymore. I'll do all the work, Rin. All you have to do is back me up. If Jakken asks if I'm lying, all you have to do is tell him I'm not. Tell him I'm telling the truth. Do you think you can do that?"

"Of course Lord Sesshomaru! That will be very easy!" She had nearly finished the melon. "Easy because you always tell the truth!"

"Remember that I said we had to trick ourselves too?" He could smell Jakken coming from his right. He would have to wrap this up fairly quickly. "We have to trick our brains into think that I really am not mad at InuYasha anymore. We have to trick ourselves into really believing that's really true. Can you do that?"

"Sure, I won't let us lose my lord!" She tossed the melon rinds off to the left and licked her fingers. "Whatever you say is a fact!"

"Yes, quite true. Are you ready to play? Jakken is nearly here."

"I'm ready, but how will I know when to stop?" she asked nervously.

"Simple, Rin," he turned from her to face Jakken's direction, "You don't stop. At least not until I tell you to."

Jakken came jogging from over a hill, panting and sweating. He stopped just a few feet in front of Ah-Un. He planted his staff of two heads in the ground and leaned on it for support, gasping for air. "My lord!" he said, breathless. "InuYasha… they are just to the… east of here."

Sesshomaru took a deep breath and sighed. "Good. I've been meaning to apologize to him."

Jakken's head jerked upwards to look at his master with shock. "What did you say, my lord?"

Sesshomaru knew it would take his vassal a little more convincing than the child, and was expecting such a response. He chuckled a little. "Yes, little Rin was just as shocked. It is true, though. I have treated him badly and I need to apologize for my rude behavior. He is, after all, my little brother."

Jakken, still wide eyed and disbelieving, said "But how did you come to forgive him, my lord? Surely you still despise the dirty little half-breed, he didn't lose his human traits overnight!" He shook his head, and then asked, "Are you sure you're feeling well?"

"I had a dream, Jakken. My father came to me and said that in order to defeat Naraku both InuYasha and I had to be at peace with each other. We will have to fight together. And he then told me that my hatred of InuYasha's human blood was useless, since I now count Rin, an entirely human girl, as my own daughter." Sesshomaru put on a sad face, all part of the game. "How could I have been so stupid Jakken? He is my only brother. I must find him and make amends with him," and for added effect, he forced a single tear drop from his right eye.

Rin was completely enthralled with this new game. The part of tricking themselves was a lot easier than she thought it would have been. Even she thought Sesshomaru really meant what he said.

"So what are you saying my lord?" Jakken said nervously.

"I am going to tell him what I just told you, and I hope he can forgive me and accept us as traveling companions."

"What!" the imp retorted, angrily jumping up and down. "InuYasha would never allow us to come with him, no matter what you say to him! Besides, we would fare far better on our own until we have located Naraku! Then we can summon them to help us take him down for good!"

"Master Jakken," Rin began, "Lord Sesshomaru is telling the truth, and I think we should do as his father said in his dream. We need to join forces so we can defeat Naraku."

His little pet had done exactly what he wanted her to do, at just the right moment. It was enough to cause Jakken's mind to fall into its place, and accept his master's wishes. "My apologies, my lord. It's just so out of character for you to do anything good by your brother. You must understand I only questioned your decision out of concern." He added after that, "I still wonder if maybe the dream was brought on due to an illness. Are you positive you are feeling well?"

"I am well, Jakken, no need to worry about my health. Come, let us be on our way to him now. I must have his forgiveness if we are to succeed in our quest." He took Ah-Un's bridle and led his vassal and his daughter back the way Jakken came, and his heart swelled knowing that he would soon see, and smell, his precious Kagome again soon.

That morning, Kagome woke up with InuYasha's arms around her, and she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. She snuggled against his chest smiled. This was what it was like. This was what it was to be happy with InuYasha, and not fighting and bitching all the time out of frustration. She glanced over where Sango slept and saw that she too was wrapped up tight, safe in Miroku's arms. He was awake and occasionally kissed her forehead. Kagome smiled, and Miroku winked back at her.

InuYasha began stirring. He blinked a few times and deeply inhaled the smell of Kagome's hair. It smelled like lavender and honeysuckle. Her hand rested gently on his forearm, and she squeezed him there gently to let him know she was awake.

"I have to pee really bad, but I don't want to move," he croaked. "I want to stay here with you forever."

Kagome giggled. "You have such a beautiful way with words." She rolled over to face him. She covered her mouth and said, "I ove ooo."

InuYasha raised an eyebrow at her. "Why are you covering your mouth?"

"Ecause I on to ock oo out wi ma jagon breh."

"What?" he said as he dragged her hand away.

"Because I don't want to knock you out with my dragon breath!" she cried.

InuYasha looked surprised for a moment. "But you're not a dragon, and you didn't swallow one, so why would you have dragon breath?"

"Oh never mind, I'll tell you about it later. I gotta pee too." She went to sit up, but InuYasha pulled her back down for a kiss. _Either I don't have dragon breath after all_ , she thought, _or he doesn't care!_ Eventually they ended their morning salutation in desperation to relieve their bladders.

Shippo had gotten up early and fished out breakfast. He was content with life now that he had ratted everyone out. Life was simple this morning and he couldn't be happier. No complicated relationships, no silent glares across the morning fire, just quiet and happy peace. "Miroku, you might want to wake Sango, the fish is nearly done."

Miroku kissed her forehead and said gently, "Sango, it's morning." She fluttered her eyes open, only to look at Miroku and grunt. She snuggled down into his chest again, pulling her blankets over her head. He laughed and said, "Oh no, if I have to get up, then you do too." Somewhere deep in his robes he heard her groan. "Come on, sleepy head. Look, Shippo has fixed us all a wonderful breakfast, it would be rude if we didn't eat it."

She pulled her head up and sniffed the air. "Mmmm, that smells good Shippo." She opened her eyes and gazed at Miroku's face. "I must be dreaming, this can't be happening."

"What can't be happening, my love?"

"I can't be half asleep in your arms with Shippo cooking breakfast. This is too good to be true." She yawned and closed her eyes again. "Wake me up when I'm done dreaming."

Miroku's lecherous hand found its way to her bottom and caressed her there. "Does this help you realize you are not dreaming?" he asked with a grin on his face.

Her first instinct was to slap him, but then she remembered what had happened yesterday evening. She remembered that she was betrothed to him now, and that this was perfectly normal behavior for a man who was so in love with the woman who was to be his wife. "Yes, my darling. I know now I am not dreaming, thank you." She pulled his hand from her butt to the middle of her back. She kissed him on his jaw as he gave her a good morning hug. InuYasha and Kagome had returned from their morning pee break and were getting ready to dig into their fish.

"If you guys don't get up, we're eating your share," InuYasha said with a smirk.

Kagome elbowed him in the ribs and said, "You really should come get it before it gets burnt."

Sango rolled to her knees and then stood, stretching and yawning. She walked to the fire and picked out a freshly roasted fish for herself and sighed.

"What's wrong Sango?" Kagome asked.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And it's so nice." She looked into the fire. "I can only wish for one thing, and that's for Kohaku to be here right now, and to be alive without the aid of the jewel shard." Miroku had found his way to her side.

"Don't worry Sango. We will find him again, and we will find a way to save him." He took his fish from the fire. "We all have promised to do all we can to save him."

She smiled and took a bite of the fish. They all sat chatting and eating when suddenly InuYasha stopped, sniffing the air.

"What is it?" Sango asked, fearing the worst.

"Heh, it's Sesshomaru." InuYasha stood, clutching Tetsusaiga's handle. "Wonder what he's doing here."

Kagome felt herself stiffen. Sesshomaru was deadly, even though he was missing an arm. Her memory flashed back to that day in the field when he held Tokijin a hair's breadth away from InuYasha's throat. To lose him now, after all they'd been through and especially after last night, it would probably kill her.

"Wait a sec." Miroku pointed to the sky. "That's Ah-Un, and his imp and the little human girl. Why would he come with his whole group, InuYasha? Any special reason you might know?"

"Hell if I know, we're not exactly close remember?" He kept his hand on Tetsusaiga's hilt, but was prepared to draw it at any time. He had hoped that Sesshomaru would just be passing by, but it appeared that he was leading Ah-Un to the ground. The little girl was smiling and waving at them, and Jakken merely scowled. Sesshomaru was smiling, a very unnatural thing for him to be doing, and it looked funny on his normally expressionless face.

"InuYasha!" he called out as he got closer. InuYasha saw that he had given Tokijin and Tenseiga to Rin to hold. _Interesting_ , he thought, _he's coming to me unarmed._

"Sesshomaru?" InuYasha called back. "What are you smiling for, are you sick or something?"

They landed, and Sesshomaru strode to his brother, still smiling a smile he prayed didn't look fake. When he reached InuYahsa, he said, "That's the same thing Jakken asked me this morning when I told him we were coming here. You seem just as surprised too. Tell me," he said as he took a chance to take in Kagome's scent while talking, "is it alright if we have a talk? We have much to discuss."

"I think whatever it is you have to say to me can be done right here, Sesshomaru. We're not exactly close, remember?" InuYasha repeated. He was nervous, especially after that particular run in where he could have been killed. If it hadn't been for Kagome shouting the directions to where they believed Naraku to be, he surely would have been beheaded that day.

"I understand dear brother. May I introduce you to someone very special to me?" He motioned for Rin to come to him. She gracefully hopped off of Ah-Un and scampered to his side. "This is my Rin. I know you are curious about her as well. I have a lot to tell, may we sit by your fire?"

"Uh, sure. Shippo, do we have more fish?" InuYasha refused to put his back to Sesshomaru, so Miroku led them to their camp. InuYasha walked beside his older brother, on his left where there was no arm.

Once they were settled, Miroku said, "What is it that you have to say, Sesshomaru. We really need to pack up and be on our way soon."

"Well, let me start by explaining Rin to you. InuYasha, so you remember when you unlocked the power of the Wind Scar? And you nearly destroyed me?"

"I could never forget that day." InuYasha growled.

"I happened to land in the woods, and I was very hurt. Sometime in the evening, Rin came to me. She had been beaten by some villagers because she was stealing food from their storehouses. She saw that I was hurt, and she came everyday to leave me food and water. She did not understand that I didn't need human food, but her generosity and kindness touched me." A misty look overtook his amber eyes. "Then one day when I was feeling well enough to move again, Jakken and I came upon her dead body."

Rin tucked herself under Sesshomaru's empty sleeve. "I don't like to remember this part," she said as she covered her ears and shook her head vigorously.

"That mangy wolf demon Koga had set his wolves on her when she was in the neighboring village, and they hunted her down in the forest like a wild rabbit. I drew Tenseiga and saved her life. I gave her clean clothes to wear, bandaged her wounds, and I have taken her as my adopted daughter. Her parents were long dead, and she was kind to me. Much like Kagome is kind to InuYasha, despite your half demon nature."

Her name spoken from his mouth caused him to salivate. He had to swallow in order to continue. "So part of my reason for coming here was for my Rin to meet her only other relative, her uncle InuYasha."

"Sesshomaru," Kagome said, "I thought you hated all humans, even me."

His heart jumped when she spoke to him. SHE was speaking to HIM. He knew he had to say something…

"That was before Rin showed me that your race isn't all bastards and whores."

 _Damn it!_ he thought, _I've basically called her a whore!_

Immediately on the heels of that thought was, _Ahhh but Sesshomaru, the_ old _Sesshomaru_ would _have said that. Don't worry, it made it more believeable!_

Kagome was pouting and had crossed her arms. She was pissed, but didn't say anything. Sango looked a little perturbed, but not enough to not let him finish.

"How about not insulting the women in our company and telling us why you're really here, Sesshomaru. I doubt it has anything to do with me being an uncle."

"Oh yes! The heart of it all, the very reason indeed." He knelt before InuYasha, which provoked a whole new set of stares from everyone. He was doing his best to work up a good crying jag, but he needed time. "Rin," he staged the choke in his voice, "can you tell them about the dream please?"

Rin's eyes widened as she caught a glance from him that read _We don't want to lose do we?_ She walked to InuYasha and stood next to Sesshomaru, who was still taller than her, even on his knees.

"Lord Sesshomaru told me this morning that he had a dream about his father, which is your father too. He told my lord that in order to defeat Naraku you would have to get past the feud between each other and work together." InuYasha was looking at the girl with trusting eyes, and asked her to continue. "His father also told him that his hatred for humans was stupid because Lord Sesshomaru loves me. If he can love me, than he can find a way to love your human part too." Rin looked at her feet. "That's all I can remember."

Sesshomaru had been concentrating the whole time Rin spoke on the saddest thing he could think of: his mother's death. By the time Rin had finished, he was pretty worked up, crying openly, and sincerely, in front of everyone.

InuYasha was overcome with confusion. He didn't know what to say or what to do, and he could only watch as Rin gently patted Sesshomaru on the back and told him it was okay to cry. "If father told you of this reunion we're supposed to have why didn't he come to me in my dreams and tell me as well? I mean, it's not that I don't believe you, although I kinda don't, but I want to believe you… It's all so complicated.."

"I don't expect you to understand, my brother," Sesshomaru sobbed. "I came to apologize for all the wrong I've done against you and your friends. You couldn't help that you were born a half demon, just as I had nothing to do with my yokai birth. How can I ever hope to become as powerful as father if I can't find within myself the compassion that he had? I come asking for your forgiveness. I want nothing more than to end Naraku's life, and we now must do this together." He wiped at his eyes. "Please forgive me InuYasha. I have truly been a bastard as you have always called me."

Kagome watched InuYasha's eyes soften from a confused glower to a sympathetic gaze. He reached out and grasped Sesshomaru's shoulder. The older faced the younger, and InuYasha said, "My brother, I forgive you, and welcome you into my heart."

Sesshomaru laughed inside. He really should have become an actor. He was playing all of them straight into his hands. And little Rin, she was the perfect co-star. Just the perfect person to melt Kagome's heart and cause her to turn to him after InuYasha's death at the hands of Koga.

Speaking of whom, that part of the trap had yet to be set. He would have to rectify that if he was going to be able to truly win Kagome. He decided though to wait. He could only concentrate on one part of his plan at a time. He decided his next step would be to assimilate into the group, wait it out for a couple of months. He would use that time to build his relationship with Kagome. He would find out her favorites and least favorites, and although it would pain him to watch it, he knew he was bound to see her and InuYasha nuzzling one another, but even that he could learn from. But the most important thing of all, he would learn when InuYasha turned into his human form, and he would then know when to tell Koga to strike.

 _Sesshomaru, you old bastard. You really got him this time! And in time you will have her too._ He roared with laughter inside as InuYasha embraced him, and then the others. Kagome was last, as he looked at her with tear filled eyes and said, "Kagome, I owe you an apology too. I tried to take your life and I shouldn't have. It was wrong of me, and I am truly sorry." This apology was no fake. He really was sorry that he had nearly killed the only woman who stirred the fire in his loins, the quickening of his heartbeat. Her soft brown eyes made him weak in every muscle, and her cherry blossom lips made his lust for her stronger than ever. He imagined what those lips would taste like and how they would feel when pressed passionately against his own. He imagined how sweet her skin would smell when he was finally able to disrobe her in his castle and make love to her in his plush bed. His head swam with the endless possibilities their two bodies had in the dark. His thoughts were broken when she took his hand, and he would swear to his death that his heart stopped for a brief second that day.

"Sesshomaru, I don't know you very well, but I feel you're being sincere to me. I accept your apology." And just when ole Sesshy didn't think he could ask for anything better, she hugged him tightly and patted his back, and tears of relief poured from his eyes. His nose was flooded with her scent, so strong compared to the small patch of grass he carried with him. And because she didn't think twice about showing compassion to anyone, she simply hugged him tighter when his sobs began to wrack his body. _Sesshomaru! You've got to get a hold of yourself! You can't stand here and soak the girl's hair with your tears! Straighten up!_

He tore away from her, a little abruptly, and regained his composure after a few moments. "Thank you Kagome. You don't know what that means to my heart." It was heartfelt and true.

"Well Sesshomaru, if we're going to get Naraku, we need to get going. I think if you and I go out in front we can use our sense of smell to try and pick up his scent." The group began to gather up their things and get ready to set off in the direction of the Ox-Tiger. Sesshomaru let Rin ride on Kirara with the little fox demon, and Sango and Miroku asked to ride on Ah-Un.

The group had grown from 6 to 10, and they made an impressive force as the rode into the countryside.


	3. Ooh, That Smell

It was their third week traveling together. What started out as awkward and uneasy had turned, much to Sesshomaru's delight, into regular and routine. Kagome and InuYasha slept in a heap on one side of the fire, Sango and Miroku in the other heap opposite them, and then the little ones: Rin, Shippo, the kitten and Jakken slept in a little group near Ah-Un. Sesshomaru didn't need to sleep as much, as he was a strong full blooded demon.

Since he had the entire night now to himself, having had a cat nap just after dinner, he decided to take care of some personal business. He had it tucked just inside his haori. After looking over his shoulder and seeing that all was well in the camp, he took to the air and flew to a small grove of trees about two miles to the south.

Upon landing he quickly took it out and admired it in the moonlight: a single sock belonging to a certain young girl who was not in her right time. He had secretly stolen it that afternoon when the girls spied a hot spring and had quickly undressed to get in. He shuffled it out of sight and had been waiting until now…

He sat in the tree and laid the white cotton sock out on his thigh. He smoothed it out so it was flat and had no wrinkles. He felt of its ribbed texture at the end that clung to her knee. He felt of the seam at the toe. And then Sesshomaru brought it to his face and inhaled her scent that lingered in the calf.

He sat in the tree for about ten minutes, just breathing her smell, picking out every pheromone, every hint of sweat, every last drop that belonged to her. He tried to ignore the parts that smelled like InuYasha, and mostly succeeded. But he didn't come here to just sniff Kagome's sock. It was much more serious than that.

He was going absolutely crazy. Sesshomaru, Inu no Tashio, Lord of the Western Lands was succumbing to a very human act. In the privacy of this tree, in the dead of night, he leaned back against the tree and laid the sock in a twisted pile on his chest. After breathing in her scent a few more times, he reached inside his hakema, reached into his fundoshi, and began to pleasure himself. His mind wandered into the perverse and strange as her smell intoxicated him to the point of no return. He absolutely had to finish if he was going to glean any relief at all. And it wasn't just a physical release he needed, his brain was overloaded and struggling to maintain the "game". He simply loathed InuYasha and everything he and his friends did. In fact, the only thing they agreed on was the direction in which Naraku could be hiding. His frustrations were mounting, and he knew something would have to give soon. He needed to know when InuYasha changed so he would know when to tell Koga to strike. He needed to be with _his_ Kagome. Just as a cloud passed over the moon, he felt his climax ripping through his entire body. He roared with masculine vigor as he came, struggling to hang on to the tree branch without falling to the ground. His body shuddered as peace finally settled over him. As he sat gasping in the cool night air, he felt it was enough for now, and that he might be able to make it just a little while longer. He brought his hand out carefully and slung his seed off to the ground.

Finally satisfied he took her sock and used it as a rag to wipe his hand with, and then buried it under a rock. He was going to have to wake Jakken to help him undress and go bathe in the hot spring. He tittered to himself thinking of what to tell him. _Jakken, do you mind helping me take a bath? See Kagome's smell was giving me one bad case of horny, so I went to the middle of nowhere and jerked off. It's not easy to do when you're in a tree and only have one arm you know. Anyway, I kinda ruined my fundoshi and got my sticky juice all over my hand, so could you help your old pal Lord Sesshomaru get into the goddamned hot spring?_

Kami, if he ever said anything like that he would slit his own throat. He was yokai royalty, and was bred better than to speak so. The simple story would be that he needed to take a bath while no one was around to gawk at his severed arm and to see that the mighty Sesshomaru needed assistance with dressing and undressing. As a matter of fact, his thoughts were starting to sound a lot like InuYasha's impudent ramblings. Surely he wasn't picking up the dirty little hanyou's traits, was he? What if Rin were to pick up his foul mouth? He groaned at the thought of that. He would have to deal with that when and if it came about.

On his way back to camp he spied a pond that he stopped to rinse his hand in. He couldn't believe how much better he felt after his solitary excursion. He certainly could not afford to do it again if they were not close to a place where he could bathe. His seed was extremely sticky, practically like glue. He needed to rinse himself and his underclothes.

He shook Jakken awake and they went together to the spring. Jakken was used to helping his lord bathe, and the night went without incident. Afterward, Jakken returned to his rest, Rin got up once to get a drink as always, and Sesshomaru watched them from his post on the edge of the camp. The rest of the night was peaceful and uneventful, and Sesshomaru dozed in the still of the night.

"Hey, Shippo!" Rin called from the top of the hill they were cresting. "Come look at this!"

Shippo transformed and floated easily over the uphill slant and saw something shiny in the grass. He popped out of his bubble and sprinted ahead. There in the wildflowers and brush lay a piece of chain link, about 10 inches long, with a weighted ball on one end. This looked like a part of Kohaku's weapon. "Sango! I think you better come look at this!"

She rode up to where Shippo and Rin were gazing and gasped. It was the end of the chain from Kohaku's Chain Scythe. She looked around anxiously, looking for any sign of a fight. The grass didn't lie any differently than the day it sprang up, and Sesshomaru said the place didn't hold any smell other than that of the wildlife. He sniffed the chain itself and only noted that the smell of Naraku's miasma was faint.

"Whenever he dropped it, it must have fallen a long time ago. There's barely any scent at all." Sesshomaru was positive that Naraku had left this as a tease, just a little note to say ' _Hi, I see you back there trying to find me. Here, have a clue, just to keep you hopeful while I continue to heal my broken body._ ' The thought of him sitting in some cave or other hideout, with his conglomeration of insane demon parts, sitting there with a good sized chunk of the sacred jewel and mending himself was enough to nearly turn Sesshomaru's stomach.

"InuYasha," he said as he walked to his brother's side, "I think you and I should spread out a bit to see if we can't pick up any trace of a scent." He looked around the meadow. "You know he left this here on purpose."

"Well, if you want to go looking, be my guest, but it's nearly sunset, and I need to stay close with the others." InuYasha took the chain from Sesshomaru. "Hey, look at all the little chinks in the metal. He must have used this lots of times, right Sango?"

"Wait, why do you have to stay here InuYasha? Surely it's not to spend more time cuddling with your woman is it?" Sesshomaru's brain screamed out in pain at the thought of it. "You spend every single second at her side, I think you should help me. Besides, two noses are better than one."

InuYasha laughed. "Oh that's right, you don't know about it!" He went on to seal his destiny, and the wheel of fate turned. "I change into my human form tonight. If I were out in the forest when it happened I might never get back. Especially if something decided I smelled tasty enough. You just missed the last one when you came rolling in, all apologetic."

Sesshomaru's heart leaped in his chest. The new moon was tonight. And it had been three days since the last one when he and Rin began their little game. So it must happen every new moon. _Every new moon!_ Every twenty-eight days! So often, so regular! He could hardly contain himself, filled with glee to at last know his brother's best kept secret. "That is something I'd be very interested in seeing. I don't recall ever seeing you in your human form."

Kagome and Miroku sat consoling Sango, who was positive Kohaku was in trouble. InuYasha patted her on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry Sango. We'll find that half-dead fucker as soon as we can. I'm sure Kohaku's fine, we didn't find any blood or signs of a battle."

Sesshomaru handed the chain to her. "The only other possibility is that he was devoured whole. And if that is what happened then he died quickly and painlessly and is free from Naraku's grasp." That little dig was sure to piss everyone off, but in reality, it could very well have been what happened. Just because a possibility is unfavorable doesn't mean it can't happen and shouldn't be considered.

Miroku glared at him. "I know you meant well Sesshomaru, but that really wasn't helpful. Perhaps you should try to pick up a scent on your own as InuYasha suggested."

He squealed with delight inside. The monk seemed to be the hardest to irritate, and he had succeeded! He did his best to wear a shameful look. "My apologies Sango, how rude I must have been. Very well. Perhaps Rin would like to go with me. I could use her company."

Rin seemed eager to go with him and they set out with her riding on his back.

Rin had never felt so close to Lord Sesshomaru. He was always so distant and cold, and ever since they started playing "Trick-em-all", he had been kind and loving, just as she always hoped he would be one day.

"Lord Sesshomaru, can I ask you a question?" she asked in a happy little girl voice.

"What, Rin?"

Her face reddened. She was glad she was on his back so he couldn't see. "I was wondering, since you told InuYasha and the others that I am like your daughter, would it be alright if I called you Papa?"

"No."

They flew on in silence as Rin struggled to hold back her tears. Evidently the game was paused when it was just he and she alone. He was back to his old self, the cold and calculating mind that only seemed warm when he was accomplishing something. She would be so glad when he finally had Kagome for his own, because she had made up her mind if he was going to be mean like this to her when it happened, she was going to continue on with her best friend Shippo, and Sango and Miroku.

Finally, just before dark, as they headed back to where the others had set up camp for the night, she quietly said, "I'm sorry Lord Sesshomaru."

Sesshomaru slowed and they stopped at a creek. He let her down and knelt in front of her. "Rin, you are playing our game quite well. It won't be long and we will win!" She continued to frown at her feet. "You can't call me Papa. Maybe after Kagome and I are wed, then I can allow it. Then you can call her Mama if you like. But I don't feel it is right for you to call me so just now."

Rin looked up and said, "But my lord, Kagome belongs to InuYasha."

Sesshomaru smiled at her. "My dear Rin, Kagome is our prize if we win the game! I will have a wife and you will have a mother again. She is our prize!"

Rin did not particularly care for the crazed look that had come over Sesshomaru's face. He was practically obsessed with Kagome ever since they got started with InuYasha's group. She saw how he constantly peeked at her over his food, how he once had tried to move next to her so fast that the wind blew her skirt up. Once, in the night when she got up for a drink, she saw him sitting downwind of them, snorting the breeze and then gazing at her like she was some kind of sweet treat he couldn't have. Bluntly, he was acting pretty freaking weird around her.

"But how do you know she will want to be our prize?" she asked honestly.

Sesshomaru chuckled. "She will come running to me. You will see, Rin. She will come running to me with open arms. And she will love me twice as much as InuYasha. I am royalty, and InuYasha is a half-breed pig that has no goal in life once Naraku is defeated. He will sit around and whine like he always does. His days of puling are nearly over. And soon you and I will have to pay that mangy fleabag Koga a visit in order to insure InuYasha loses Kagome."

She started to tremble. "You mean we have to see the demon who," she swallowed, "whose wolves killed me?"

"You won't have to be afraid. I will be there too. We will go soon in the next few days. Don't worry, it's all a part of the game my sweet. And we _are_ going to win." He gave her an awkward hug. "You are a great player. I am glad I chose you as my partner."

Deep down in her heart, she knew this whole lying bit was wrong. But Lord Sesshomaru had saved her life, and she was indebted to him. If he wanted her to lie for a little longer, she should indulge him. Right?

He stood again and motioned for her to climb back up on his back. He wanted to get back in time to see InuYasha's transformation from beginning to end. He couldn't wait to see what weak form he would take or how much weaker he would be. He would be making mental notes the entire time, and he would share that vital information with Koga when it came time. Hell, he was even going to _pay_ Koga to kill InuYasha.

Then he would delight in killing the fucking bastard right before Kagome's grieving eyes. And then she would see that Sesshomaru had avenged her lover's death, and fall for the yokai himself.

Sesshomaru felt giddy inside, his scheming would almost certainly pay off. _But what if even after you slay Koga she is too distraught to come to you?_ his thoughts said. _What if she ends her own life because she cannot take the sorrow?_

He pondered that for a moment. He had counted on her seeing him as the hero and lavishing him with kisses and caresses and advances. It never entered into his mind that she may not be able to let the memory of InuYasha go. As they arrived back at the camp, Kagome sat next to InuYasha as his transformation began. She held his hand in hers and gently stroked his hair as his canines seemed to grow backwards into his skull. It caused him pain, as Sesshomaru could see on his face. Jakken had ceased his endless complaining to watch the spectacle as well, and sat himself near Miroku. Rin sat on the other side of InuYasha, mimicking Kagome's every move.

Sesshomaru silently fumed, watching both his girls preen over that foul mouthed, half-breed fool like he was a woman in labor. He watched as InuYasha's eyes turned from golden amber to dark brown, and his hair change from the silvery white that they each inherited from their father to the black that he shared with his mother. His claws shrank down to normal human nails, and the scent of his blood changed to that of any other human. The final change was the ears. His soft dog ears disappeared as tiny human ones sprouted and then grew to normal size.

Afterward, he appeared tired, as if he fought with someone, and so Kagome and Rin helped him to the sleeping bag he shared with his woman, and they let him sleep. Other than Kagome, Rin, Jakken and Sesshomaru, this seemed to be an ordinary occurrence. Sango and Shippo went about cooking a stew for everyone, while Miroku penned some sutras. _All the better for Koga's attack. They won't be expecting it at all._

Soon supper was ready and InuYasha was awoken by the feel of tiny little girl hands gently shaking him.

"Hey squirt," InuYasha said to Rin as he ruffled her hair, "thanks for helping me through it. Maybe one day you can train to be a miko like Kagome."

Rin's eyes lit up. "Really? Do you really think so?"

"Sure! I'm sure you'd be great at it Rin!" Kagome added.

Rin hugged InuYasha tightly around his neck. "Thank you, Uncle! What a kind thing to say!"

She turned to go tell Shippo what InuYasha had said when she tripped over her own feet and fell hard on the ground, smashing her nose. She screamed when she saw the blood pouring from her face. Sesshomaru gently pressed around the bridge of her nose only to find she had broken it.

"Rin, be brave, this is going to hurt really badly, but it will be over quickly." He calmed himself and then quickly snapped her nose back into place as she screamed in pain. The blood poured like water for a brief moment, and then slowed to a trickle within minutes. Soon it had stopped, but the front of her kimono was badly soiled and stained with it.

"Kagome, do you have any extra clothing with you that Rin could possibly wear? I have to get the blood out to keep the lesser demons from following us." She nodded and searched through her bag, trying to find something small enough for her. She settled on a tank top that fit Rin like a loose sundress.

Sesshomaru took the blood soaked kimono and said, "I'll be back, go on and eat if you feel up to it Rin."

"I have some pain medicine Rin," Kagome said as she took out a bottle of aspirin. "It will make you feel better."

InuYasha nodded to Sesshomaru. "Go ahead, she'll be fine." Rin sat down in Kagome's lap and took the little white pills. Her face was starting to swell, and a dark purple bruise had formed right across her nose and just under her eyes. Kagome and Sango did everything they could to make her comfortable, and eventually after a few bites of stew, she fell asleep.

As for Sesshomaru, he didn't go directly to the creek. Instead he went looking for a certain mangy wolf demon instead.


	4. I can Feel it Coming in the Air

Sango and Kagome looked at each other as the others watched Sesshomaru fly off with Rin's bloodied kimono. Suddenly, Sango grabbed Jakken's arms and held them behind him as she drew her dagger and held it right under his throat.

"W-w-wh-what is the meaning of this?" he cried out. He tried to thrash about but Sango's grip on him held. Rin gasped at this display of aggression.

"We know something's up, now tell us!" Kagome yelled. "He's acting awfully weird about that kimono, insisting that he go and wash it immediately."

"Yeah," Sango agreed, "and why is he out here with us anyways? What do you two have planned?"

Jakken's eyes widened. He stammered and stuttered out of fear. "Honestly, I do not know of any kind of plot! The morning he told me he wanted to apologize to InuYasha, I thought he was out of his mind! You have to believe me!" The little green creature trembled as Sango held the dagger a little closer. "Please don't kill me; I swear on my life that there is no plot! I swear, I swear, I SWEAR!" he cried.

Sango released him. "You're absolutely positive that nothing is going on here?" she asked. "Because if there is, and we find out about it, you are going to be one dead little green guy."

InuYasha and Miroku sat sharing the pipe and watching the whole scene. Shippo missed the whole thing as he went off to find a tree to pee on.

"You doubt his sincerity?" Miroku asked as he blew a series of smoke rings.

Sango sheathed the dagger. "Heh, don't you? The guy practically comes out of nowhere crying crocodile tears over some dream he supposedly had. And every other time we've seen him he's trying to kill one of us. I don't know... something about this just doesn't seem right."

Jakken got on his knees and then bowed before Sango. "Demon slayer, I assure you, if I had known of anything I would have done all in my power to stop him." He was sobbing. "I know you must still be wary of Lord Sesshomaru, let alone myself or Rin-"

"Rin is only a child," Kagome shot back. "I don't expect him to share anything with her."

Rin, however, suddenly felt incredibly ill.

"I swear to you, I have absolutely no knowledge of anything suspicious. If anything is not how it appears here I had nothing at all to do with it." He continued to kneel before Sango with pleading eyes. It appeared that Sesshomaru made the right choice in picking Rin, who couldn't say anything through her heaving stomach anyway.

Kagome went to her and comforted her. She held her hair back as she was sick behind a bush, and later when she was through brought her a cool rag for her face.

"I'm so sorry Rin, you must be feeling horrible with your broken nose and all. And I'm sorry we acted the way we did in front of you. I guess Sesshomaru really did turn over new leaf."

 _You don't want to lose do you?_ She heard Sesshomaru's voice echo in her head. "Yes, I didn't believe him at first either. But he seemed so happy when he told me about the dream." That much was true. He had seemed very happy when he told her about the dream. Granted, it was about a dream that never happened, and he was happy because it was part of a grand scheme. But she didn't have to tell Kagome that.

She heaved a sigh. "My face hurts again, can I have some more medicine?"

"Sure, let's freshen up your wet cloth and head back to the fire. You should try to sleep if you can. I'm sure Sesshomaru will be back soon." Kagome helped the little girl to her feet and then held her hand as they walked back to where there others were sitting.

Now to compound her uneasy stomach, Rin now had a horrible headache. Thank goodness the aspirin seemed to work quickly, her mind was spinning between the pain and Kagome and Sango's suspicion of Sesshomaru. She would have to talk to him when he returned; she didn't want to play the game anymore. She wanted to stay here with these warm people and be happy, and leave the lies to Sesshomaru. She didn't have much time to think about it though, because once her pain went away she fell fast asleep.

InuYasha and Miroku had finished their evening smoke and they went to their women. Shippo kept an eye on Rin as he lazed with Kirara. Jakken sat away from everyone and never took his hands off his staff once he Sango had let him go. She tried to apologize to him, and he accepted, but he was still a little leery of her.

"Kagome," InuYasha began, "I think what you guys did to Jakken was mean. It's been almost a month now and none of them have really done anything to us. I mean, yes my brother is a little awkward around humans, but isn't that to be expected when you never really associated with them before?"

She nodded at him. "But still…" she gazed into the dancing flames, "something about this whole situation just seems… I dunno… off somehow." He sat down beside her. "Something just isn't right. Don't you get that feeling?"

He pushed her bangs out of her face and held her cheek in his hand. "You know what I'm feeling? I'm feeling we should take a walk and enjoy this moonless night."

She blushed deeply and said "Kami, you know I want to. I just can't help feeling like something is going to happen if I don't do something, but I don't know what to expect to happen or what to do to prevent it."

"All the more reason to let it go and come walk with me." He kissed her forehead gently. "Please, just a short walk. I want to spend time with you while I'm a human you know."

She smiled and agreed to walk with him. InuYasha yelled for Sango and Miroku to watch over the children (Jakken _harrumphed_ when he heard he was lumped in with the kids), and the two set out to the top of a hill close by.

The night was perfect. It wasn't too cool, as the previous nights had been, and it wasn't too warm, like the upcoming nights would be. Kagome and InuYasha sat on the far side of the hill, looking out into the darkness and up into the dazzling sky. She scooted closer to him and he put his arm around her shoulders.

"InuYasha, do you believe everything Sesshomaru has told us?" she asked.

He sat quiet for a bit, mulling his answer over. "Well, I know that he has threatened our lives many times. I know that he has practically shunned me my entire life. And we all know how big of a fucking jerk he can be. But I also have to take Rin into consideration, as well as Jakken's sincere honesty…" he sighed as he looked out on the dark prairie. "I know that you have helped me change into a better person, and I believe it is even possible for my brother to change too."

Kagome thought about what he'd just said. It was true that InuYasha was a totally different person when she first met him. And it was also true that Sesshomaru did indeed have a special place in his icy heart for this little human girl. She supposed then that it could be entirely plausible, however unlikely it may seem, that Sesshomaru had changed for the better.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." she conceded. She rested her head on InuYasha's shoulder and watched as a shooting star streaked it's hot white fire across the sky.

_**SKIP IF YOU DON'T LIKE LEMONS!** _

"I love you Kagome," he said quietly. "I don't know why I ever had a problem telling you before. It's pretty easy to tell you now." He kissed her cheek and looked back up at the constellations.

"InuYasha." He looked at her. It appeared she had no interest in stargazing.

"Help me take this shirt off."

Instantly, his stomach was in knots. The desire to see what lie beneath her shirt was great, but his desire to do right by her was greater, and he didn't want to embarrass or otherwise make her uncomfortable. His eyes were wide as he said slowly, "Are you sure about that?"

She took his trembling hand and placed it on her right breast. She had done him the favor of not wearing that contraption she kept them wrapped in and the only thing that separated his flesh from hers was a thin layer of cotton, which she had already asked him to help her out of. "I want you to help me out of my shirt, please."

He sat dumbfounded, not able to move or speak, desperately wanting to help her out but simply paralyzed at the thought of it. So she had to help him out a little bit. She pushed him so that he lay on his back in the grass, and then she straddled him.

"Oh man, I think I'm gonna be sick…" he exclaimed.

She looked at him with concern. "What? Why?"

"I'm so fucking nervous…" he groaned.

"InuYasha, it's okay. It's just me." She bent over him and kissed his lips. He smiled at her and she kissed him again. "I'm nervous too, but we can go slow if I'm moving too fast for you."

"Kiss me one more time," he said. "I think one more should do it."

"Do what?"

"Just kiss me like you mean it!" and with that she brought her lips to his. She forced his mouth open and gently wove her tongue around his, and they tasted each other that way for a little while. He rolled her to her back and took her hand. He first pulled the sleeve up and pulled her arm out, baring her right breast. He only marveled at it for a moment before pulling her other arm out and pulling the whole thing over her head. Her hair spilled over the ground and her eyes were sparkling in the night. Her perfect breasts were free, and InuYasha could only stare, growing larger by the minute.

"Well, what do you think?" she said, smiling and spreading her arms in a 'ta-da!' fashion.

"They are beautiful." His hand reached out to touch one of them, but at first he stopped, waiting for her to tell him it was okay. She took his hand and put it on her left breast this time. "They're so soft," he whispered. His finger took the nipple and toyed with it, causing Kagome to moan softly. His eyes flicked to her face, feeling that he had hurt her, but she had her eyes closed and was smiling. He rubbed and pinched and flicked at her little erect nubs until she practically was shaking like a leaf. He began to cover her with hungry kisses, starting at her neck and moving down to her throat, and even further down until he was mere millimeters away from her pink nipple.

Suddenly she stopped him and sat up. "InuYasha, help me out of this skirt."

"Oh no you don't," he teased. "Now it's your turn to unwrap me!"

She shoved him over on his back and straddled him again. She began untying his sash trying desperately to uncover his body. She practically tore him from his haori, and then untied and released him from his nagajuban. Finally she could see skin.

"Why'd you stop there?" he grinned. "That's not even the best part!"

"Jeez," she said, "now I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Just close your eyes Kagome, I'll handle the rest." His voice was gentle and she trusted him as he laid her in the grass again. She felt him shuffling and then felt his hands at her waist and gently pulling her skirt and panties down. And then she felt the heat from his legs on her legs, and he was on top of her, gently kissing her. She felt relaxed and no longer queasy with nerves. He wrapped his strong arms around her and whispered, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes, more than anything in the world." She could barely breathe she wanted him so bad. "Take my virginity from me InuYasha."

"I'll give you mine in return, my love." He unwrapped himself from her and grabbed her right leg at the knee and opened her up. He could feel the heat of her passion in her groin and he was drawn there like a magnet. He entered and went slowly, gently breaking down her wall.

"Don't tease me InuYasha," she gasped, "if you love me, then love me!" He looked into her shimmering eyes, and kissed her hard on the mouth. His face was overcome with a sly grin, and he hooked his arms under her legs and brought her knees towards her sides.

"Are you ready?" he asked her hungrily.

"Kami, I am ready." She moaned in response.

"Alright, here we go." He mounted her and began to pump her as she stifled a shout of brief pain. When she started to moan louder, he bent over a shut her up with his tongue. She wrapped her arms around him and begged him to go faster. He watched as her breasts moved in circles with every thrust, and passionately bent down to taste one. His tongue caught the sensitive tip and she moaned in ecstasy.

Finally he felt her body temperature suddenly rise and she was shuddering against him. He felt her soft flesh convulse and spasm against his. She cried out as her orgasm overtook her, and then InuYasha followed shortly thereafter, exploding inside of her warm body.

He kissed her cheek and dismounted her, falling weakly into the grass beside her. They held hands in the dark as they tried to catch their breath, and listened to the wind running through the grass. Kagome kissed his neck just below the ear, where she whispered "I'll love you always InuYasha."

END LEMON

Eventually, they slowly made their way back to camp, thinking they'd spent a special and very private moment together. However, it had not been entirely private, and to the one who saw, it was not quite as special.

Sesshomaru was very close when he caught Kagome's scent on the wind, and not coming from the direction of where the others were. Thinking she had somehow wandered away, he followed the scent to the just beyond the little hill. He stopped in mid air, knowing the moonless night would keep him from being seen. He watched helplessly as his bastard half-breed half-brother defiled the woman that he was going to claim as his own. He watched as she begged him to do things to her, and felt his demon blood coursing with rage when she whispered "I'll love you always InuYasha."

He didn't know if he could make it another month. He thought about killing them both before they even got dressed again, and then wiping out the rest of their pitiful band. He thought about how badly the negotiations went with Koga. He thought about how his little Rin had broken her nose that evening, and how hard she was working to not tell on him and he instantly felt guilty. What kinds of a parent- demon, human or in between- does that to their child?

 _Take a deep breath and settle down, damn fool!_ his inner voice said. _Lord Sesshomaru always gets what he wants doesn't he? Through strategy, money, or brute force, he always gets what he wants. You still want the girl don't you, even though she is no doubt carrying your brother's_ human _child? So what if he was her first! You will be her second, third, fourth and so on._

"I don't want her anymore," he said aloud.

"I NEED her."

Earlier that evening, Koga, Ginta and Hakkaku sat around the fire in their den with the wolves, eating their dinner, when suddenly Sesshomaru appeared in the mouth of the cave.

"What are you doing here, you filthy mutt?" Koga yelled as Ginta and Hakkaku cowered in fear. The wolves were growling, but Sesshomaru silenced them all with only a glance.

"Don't worry Koga," he said. "I've come to ask you for a favor."

"Ha! As if I'd ever do such a thing for the likes of you!" he exclaimed as he prepared to fight him.

"Now just a moment Koga, you haven't even heard my proposal. It could be very beneficial for all involved."

"Nothing you could offer me as a reward would be great enough to cause me to do your dirty work, Sesshomaru. Nothing!"

Sesshomaru cocked his head, "Not even Kagome?"

Ginta and Hakkaku gasped in unison. Koga looked stunned for a moment.

"What about Kagome? Is she hurt? Is she in trouble?" _So predictable_ Sesshomaru thought. _You can unlock anyone; you only need to know the password._

"Well it's quite simple really. InuYasha has tested my last nerve. I want to pay you to kill him for me. And then you may have the pleasure of killing him yourself as well as the human girl. It's a very favorable outcome for you Koga, don't you agree."

Koga looked confused. "Sesshomaru, what kind of trickery is this? Surely you are powerful enough to take down InuYasha on your own. Why come to me with this?"

 _Isn't it good to be prepared? Tsk-tsk. So predictable, Koga._ "I have grown tired of dealing with InuYasha altogether. I'm going to be returning to my castle in the western lands, but I want to be sure first that I can count on his swift demise. So," he asked, "do you accept my offer?"

Koga thought about it for a moment. "What are you paying me?" he asked finally.

"I will personally send you enough food for your clan to make it through the winter. I'll have it delivered from my personal storehouse." He grinned slightly, "Of course you'll have to send me proof of his death. How about bringing me his head, and his sword, Tetsusaiga." _Wonder if Kagome will object to keeping these trophies in our bedroom?_ he thought to himself.

"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you some very vital information, dear Koga." He held out Rin's bloodied clothing. "InuYasha has transformed into his human form. Sniff right here," he pointed to a spot on the little kimono. Koga bent forward and sniffed, ignoring the blood smell and catching InuYasha's scent, but it was milder than normal.

"I know when his change comes, and you should be able to strike effectively."

Koga stared in disbelief. "He told you when he changes?"

Sesshomaru laughed softly. "Better than that, I watched it with my own two eyes. It's on the new moon. Every new moon. In fact, if you're feeling zealous enough we could go right now and you would be able to murder him easily."

Koga was now laughing. "Are you kidding me? Why not kill him yourself, you hate him more than I ever will! He's not my half-breed brother! Go take care of it yourself!"

"I don't want my daughter to see me murder my brother."

"You don't have any kids, what kind of joke is this Sesshomaru! You've got about 2 seconds to start explaining or I'm going to start whipping some ass!"

"There was a little girl in a village that you mangy wolves overtook, and you hunted her down in the woods like she was a fresh young deer. She helped me when I was sick, stealing food and whatever it was she thought I needed. When I found her dead on the road, I drew the Tenseiga and saved her life. She is a little human girl, no more than six or seven years old. I have taken her as my own daughter, and she believes InuYasha to be her uncle. I cannot slay him in front of her, and she is very nearly by my side at all times."

"Then why ain't she here?" Koga cried.

"Because she's afraid of you and your mongrel wolves!"

Koga waved Sesshomaru away and rejoined the others by the fire, picking up his roasted rabbit. "Don't waste my time."

Sesshomaru was panicking inside. _He has to take the bait if the plan is going to succeed! I need to have Kagome in my arms if I'm going to be able to survive another day on this wretched earth! I've got to sweeten the deal. I've got to be calm and I've got to sweeten the pot!_

"Don't you want the satisfaction of killing him and taking from him what's rightfully yours in the first place? He had no claim to Kagome, still doesn't have one as far as I'm concerned. You are the one who claimed her to be your mate. Go and claim her. Rid this world of InuYasha, and all your dreams for your clan can come true. You will be able to have children with her, and I will supply the food for two winters."

 _Kami I hope that didn't sound desperate_ , his inner voice thought as he read Koga's face. "Besides Koga, with him in his human form it would be like a hot katana through lard: easy from start to finish."

Koga thought this over in his mind. Something was fishy here, but he could sense Sesshomaru's desperation, even under that calm veneer. He had to find out what was going on.

"Deal. One condition." The wolf demon tribe leader looked up at the yokai royalty. "We do it next new moon, I'm beat down tonight."

A whole month? Another whole month to have to bear InuYasha's advances? Another month to bear Kagome getting further away from him? He was going to have to find another hot spring between now and then if that was the case.

"Fine. You will see me with him and his group. My daughter has made it clear to me that she wants to get to know her uncle, despite his short time left upon the earth." He turned to go. "Remember, if you see me with them do not divulge what has transpired here." And he was gone with a whoosh.

"What the hell's going on with that guy?" Koga wondered aloud. _What the hell is going on?_


	5. Off the Rails on a Crazy Train

"Koga!" Hakkaku called in whispered shout. He had finally caught Sesshomaru's scent on the air and had tracked InuYasha's group to a village bordering a large rice paddy. It had been almost two weeks since Sesshomaru had shown up unexpectedly at the clan's den practically begging Koga to assassinate InuYasha while he was in his human form. What bothered Koga the most was what Sesshomaru said his reason was for asking Koga to do it in the first place: he didn't want to slay InuYasha in front of his daughter. And then he went on to blame Koga and his tribe for killing her, yet he made no move to exact revenge over this, and had even doubled his offer of payment to go kill that half-demon bastard right that very second while he was sitting waiting for his human form to wear off. He'd even brought Koga a sample of InuYasha's human scent on a gory and bloody little kimono. What the hell was Sesshomaru up to?

The three wolf demons discussed all the possibilities of the clues they had. They knew Sesshomaru was heartless and had no love for anyone or anything other than himself, and now apparently this human girl. They knew there was a blood feud between him and InuYasha, but not anything that Sesshomaru couldn't handle on his own without any trouble at all. They knew something in this picture was not right, but none of them knew what the dog demon of the west was up to.

"He said Kagome would be the ultimate reward," Ginta exclaimed. "Maybe he knows something about her safety?"

Koga frowned and shook his head. "Sesshomaru could give two shits about her. He's even tried to kill her. I just don't get why he was so adamant that it be _me_ who kills InuYasha. I have a feeling he's trying to pin something other than InuYasha's death on my back. Feels like I'm about to be used." His brow was furrowed as he thought hard about what Sesshomaru could possibly want that would require InuYasha's death to happen at the hands of someone else. It was more than likely _not_ because of his daughter, but who was he trying to deceive? The only thing in the world that meant anything to Sesshomaru was supposedly a little girl that didn't know InuYasha enough to care about him. In actuality, she probably wanted him to die simply by association. There's no telling what the demon had told the little girl. Who cared about InuYahsa so much that if he was killed, revenge against the killer would follow immediately? The only people in the world that loved InuYasha so much was his band of travelers, among which only one really mattered, and that was-

"Kagome! That's what he wants!"

"Are you sure Koga?" Hakkaku said.

Koga stood, smacking his forehead with his palm. "Of course! It's the only thing that makes any sense!" He looked at Ginta and Hakkaku, who evidently did not understand at all why it made sense. "He pulled her name out when he came her because he knows I would do anything for her. He knows I would kill InuYasha this very minute if I thought he had hurt her or made her unhappy. I can't believe I didn't see it when it happened; it's why he seemed so desperate!

"He's fallen in love with her, don't you see? The reason _he_ can't kill InuYasha is because she would hate him forever, and most likely try to kill him with the help of the monk and the demon slayer. So he gets me to do it. She would then turn away from me forever, if not try to kill me on the spot, leaving his arms the only ones open to hold her while she grieved for InuYasha."

Ginta's face dawned with comprehension, "He's gonna make you the bad guy while he turns out to be the hero!"

"That sneaky bastard!" Hakkaku said as he pounded his fist into the ground. "Using you like that was a bad choice."

Koga glared down at the village below. He needed to talk to Kagome. He needed to get Sesshomaru away from her as soon as possible. And he knew InuYasha would be pissed beyond belief if he knew what his brother had planned. But how to do it? How to get Sesshomaru away and talk to InuYasha's band without rousing suspicion?

"For now, we'll keep an eye on them," he said. "We need a plan, and until we come up with one we can't let them get too far out of our reach." He turned and began to sprint into the forest. "Stay here!" he called. "I need to think!" And into the wild he went, trying figure out a way to stop Sesshomaru, yet another mangy mutt, from getting intoxicated by _his_ Kagome.

I feel a change, back to a better day.  
(Shape shift) The hair stands on the back of my neck.  
(Shape shift) In wildness is the preservation of the world,

So seek the wolf in thyself

(From a song called _Old LA Tonight_ by Ozzy Osbourne)

Look into the future,

Look into my eyes and tell me everything's alright.

Tell me where we're going,

I'm so afraid 'cause I don't know what's going on with my life

(this was the inspiration for both Rin and Sesshy in the following section)

Rin's face was still pretty bruised. The line across her nose was beginning to yellow, and she wasn't as puffy, but she still was hurting pretty badly. On top of her pain, she was nervous almost all the time. Lord Sesshomaru had told her that she didn't need to go with him to visit those awful wolves after all, and so she should have been extremely relieved and at peace. Ever since the night that Sango and Kagome turned on Jakken however, she kept very quiet and mostly to herself. She didn't trust herself to speak, lest she lose the "game" that she and Lord Sesshomaru had been playing, and she couldn't bear to let him know that she didn't want to play anymore, especially since he seemed happier than ever. She was in quite a bind.

She walked lazily through a patch of tall grass, losing herself in how soft if felt through her fingers. The thought of returning to the group just before sunset for dinner was tying her guts into knots. That was when she was the most uncomfortable, was when she sat with all of those to whom she was blatantly lying about fifty percent of the time now. She was happy that they were all out fighting some demon that the village had been complaining of for some time, it gave her a chance to be alone and clear her head.

Suddenly there was a _whoosh_ and she felt Sesshomaru standing behind her. "Rin, what troubles you?"

She didn't even turn around to look at him. She kept absently playing with a long strand of grass, staring out in front of her. Her heart raced as she struggled with the decision to just tell him she didn't want to play anymore, or to swallow the lump in her throat and play "Trick-em-all" with him as well, and tell him everything was fine.

"Rin. Please answer me, I have asked you a question."

"I thought you had to kill a demon," she said quietly.

"We have overcome our foe. We emerged victorious." He took a step towards her. "Rin, it bothers me that you are not happy. Will you please tell me what's wrong?"

She squatted suddenly and hugged her knees, making herself small in the tall grass. "I don't want to tell you," she barely whispered.

 _Whoosh_ "Why not?" he asked as he knelt before her.

"Because you will be mad, and I like you better when you're happy." She had buried her head in space between her knees and her chest. It appeared to Sesshomaru that she was doing her best to disappear.

"Please Rin. Tell me what's wrong, I promise I won't be angry. I care a great deal about you, and I know you've not been your normal self as of late." He gently reached out and lovingly patted her head. "Tell your baka Papa what's wrong."

She started to cry and he was overcome with guilt. In the pit of his icy cold heart he felt ashamed of himself for having enlisted the aid of an innocent little girl, his "daughter", to help him attain another human girl with whom he wanted to rut with. But any thought of Kagome instantly absolved him of his guilt and caused him to only double his efforts to snatch her away from InuYasha. _It's only for a short time longer_ he told himself. _About two more weeks and it will all come to fruition._

"Oh Papa!" she cried into his chest. "I don't want to play anymore!" Her tears were causing her nose to stop up and cause her pain but that only made her want to cry more. "I really like Uncle and Kagome and Shippo and the others. I don't want to lie to them anymore!"

Sesshomaru was lost in thought, not really listening to her after she said she didn't want to play anymore. To be quite honest, he was getting a little tired of playing too. He was fed up with InuYasha's stupid behavior and foul mouth. He curbed Rin's fascination with these new words by telling her he would rip her tongue out if he ever heard he utter any of them. He was tired of pretending to be this caring person that gave a shit about the Shikon Jewel, or what Miroku and Sango's wedding plans were, or InuYasha's bet that he could spit further than the kitsune even if he gave the little fox demon a ten foot start. All he wanted was for Kagome to give him her heart. Every thought of every day always came back to that. He wanted her to love him as much as he loved her. Kami, if she could only know how he felt about her.

"Papa," Rin broke his thoughts. "Papa, please, I don't want to play anymore." She sounded like a girl whose spirit had been snapped like a twig; like she had nothing left to lose. She sounded like she might spill the whole plot if she was not made to understand quickly how important it was to keep playing.

"Rin," he took her shoulder and pushed her away from him. "We absolutely must trudge on a little further. When the new moon comes, it will all be over, and we can both finally stop playing because we will have finally won. All of our efforts will have won us a whole new life, one where you will have a wonderful mother and I will have a wonderful wife. We can all live happy until the end of time in my castle and never have to play this awful game again. Do you understand how incredibly high our stakes are here?"

She only sobbed harder, knowing now that there were two more weeks of lying ahead. Sesshomaru grabbed her arm forcefully and said through gritted teeth, "Stop your crying before I give you something to really cry about."

She collapsed into the grass, inconsolable. _He's going to kill you Rin! He's going to make you wish he'd never saved your life in the first place!_ her thoughts screamed. It didn't matter now. She had outlived her usefulness and she could only watch through tear filled eyes as Sesshomaru drew Tokijin from its sheath.

"Dear Rin, I had hoped you'd be able to play to the end, but it appears that you are not as brave as I thought you were. I'm sorry to have to do this." He raised the sword high into the air and just as she looked up him to tell him she was sorry, Sesshomaru brought the hilt down hard on her head, knocking her unconscious. The strike caused a lump to begin forming almost immediately, and a small amount of blood flowed from where the metal end had cut her scalp. He quickly put Tokijin back in its place and put her over his shoulder, where she drooled unconsciously into his fluffy mokomoko.

Somewhere deep inside, Sesshomaru was beginning to crack apart. His brain and his heart began to argue with each other over who was right or wrong.

_What have you done? You have struck and very nearly killed Rin! Our darling Rin who would walk on glowing embers if it were to only make you smile!_

_I only did what was necessary to protect my objective. I must have the young miko for my own and Rin is a risk I can't afford._

_The young miko is not something you can just take! If you truly love her you would not force her to go against her will into your bed!_

_But I will not force her, Koga will force her. And it will be soon now, not much longer at all._

_You are a disgrace to your father's house!_

_InuYasha is a disgrace to my father's house with his boorish ways and lack of respect for me! I will watch happily as he is dragged to hell where is human mother no doubt awaits him!_

_And do you think you are immune from hell, Lord Sesshomaru of the Western Lands? Do you think hell is going to give a shit about your yokai royal lineage and not drag you down when it's all over? Your father's spirit stirs uneasy on the wind…_

"SHUT UP!" Sesshomaru yelled in the little meadow. He startled the birds from the trees and the rabbits from the grass. His eyes were wide and red, and he was fighting with everything in him not to turn into his demon form. This anger and frustration just would not do. There had to be a faster way to resolve this problem.

And then an idea came. And he thought it just might work, but first he had to deal with the child that lay knocked out cold on his shoulder.

(also from _Old LA Tonight)_

Who could imagine such a thing could happen to you?

…

Those summer nights when I looked in your eyes,

I'm falling to pieces, pieces.

Out of my mind, and I'll never know why,

I'm falling to pieces, pieces.

Koga tore through the forest at breakneck speed. The exhilaration of the blurring scenery and the whipping wind was enough to clear his brain, and he came to a cliff to think on how to get that stinking dog demon out of the way long enough to get Kagome to safety. As he sat overlooking the valley, he tried to imagine how InuYasha and the others would react to this revelation:

" _What do you mean Lord Fluffy has something for Kagome? He's a self-righteous pompous ass who only cares about him and that little girl, what could he possibly want with our sweet and innocent Kagome?" InuYasha might say._

" _Let me finish dogshit, for whatever reason he's got it bad for her. That's just what I need, another one of you coming after MY mate!" Koga would say, and then they'd be in each other's faces hurling insult after insult and fighting to the death anyway._

"No I can't say that. He won't listen to me if I go in there calling him names and laying claim to Kagome," he said aloud.

He decided the best course of action would be for him to send word through Ginta and Hakkaku for Sesshomaru to come meet him at the den, and entrust one of them with the carrying of a sealed scroll that would contain the information they desperately needed. Maybe add that InuYasha should meet with him to confirm that he received it and understood the implications of Sesshomaru's plans.

Yes, that was what he would do indeed. He was getting ready to make his way back to his two companions when he happened to see a flash that looked just like the one he saw when Sesshomaru showed up clan's village. He stooped low behind a bush and gazed down the cliff side. He saw the little girl and understood that at least that much of his endless yammering that day was true. And when saw him embrace her he knew that he did indeed love her. The girl appeared upset. Her body language was timid and standoffish. Koga's ears struggled to pick up their conversation, but they were talking too quietly. Suddenly she called him "Papa" and she started to cry. He couldn't make out the words, but she was indeed very upset.

Even though Koga himself didn't particularly care one way or the other for most humans, this little girl's crying touched him, and he longed to comfort her. He wanted to dry her tears and find out what had upset her so bad to start with. He watched as Sesshomaru shoved her away, and then she cried harder. _What has she done to piss him off?_ he wondered. And then he saw the bruise across her face, a sick purply-yellow, like she'd been hit in the face with something hard. _What's that bastard done to this pup?_

She fell to her knees, sobbing quite hard now. He watched in utter disbelief when he drew one of his two swords and slammed the butt of the handle into her little head. Koga's breath caught in his chest. He felt his blood running hot in his face as he heard sudden silence. _Oh Kami, no. He's killed her. That son of a demon bitch has killed her in cold blood._

Koga watched as Sesshomaru bent and put her gingerly over his shoulder. _Wait, maybe he hasn't killed her. He would have cut her in half had that been his wish._ She drooled out the side of her mouth and her eyes were rolled back in her head. _Knocked out cold, the poor thing._ Sesshomaru patted her back gently as he walked out of the little meadow, shaking his head as he moved. Suddenly he stopped and yelled at the top of his lungs, "SHUT UP!"

Koga backed away instinctively as he watched the birds and animals take flight from the meadow and the edge of the woods. His plot for Kagome was going much deeper than he could have ever imagined. Why did Sesshomaru feel the need to take out his frustrations on his child? What part was she playing in the mess? Maybe it would do him more good to scrap his first plan and go straight to where InuYasha was right now and spill everything he knew. His memory flashed to the bloodied little kimono, and he decided it was best to leave straight away. He feared for the little girl's life and he couldn't bear it if he allowed Sesshomaru to hit her one more time.

He was going to have to hurry. Thank goodness he still had the shards in his legs.


	6. Ragdoll

"Kagome!" Sesshomaru called as he ran towards the hut that they were all supposed to be staying in as compensation for slaying that oversized mantis demon. He ran with Rin dangling over his shoulder, knocked unconscious by his own hand.

"KAGOME I NEED YOU!"

This was as close as he'd ever come to revealing what he truly had planned. He did need her. He needed to feel her arms around him, he needed to feel her lips on his, needed to feel her hot breath in his ear as he made love to her, whispering that she loved him, just as she had told InuYasha the night she gave herself to him. He needed her to warm his heart and open his soul. He needed her to be his partner in everything.

But right now he needed her to use her powerful medicines and strength as a miko to help save his little girl, his little Rin, who lay still and drooling in his fluff.

InuYasha and Kagome came to the door of the hut, wearing concerning faces. When InuYasha saw Rin and smelled her blood, he dashed to meet Sesshomaru.

"Kami, what the fuck happened?" InuYasha asked as he took a look at the wound in her head.

"That bastard wolf scum Koga saw her playing in the grass and he and his little friends started hurling rocks at her. One caught her right in her head." He tittered inside a bit. Oh it was going to be such fun watching the two of them duke it out. They were sure to clash and head straight for each other's throats without explanation if they ever caught sight of one another. "Maybe he wanted to finish the job," he said angrily.

Kagome caught up to them and examined Rin's head. "Sesshomaru, she's badly hurt. We're going to have to get her to Kaede, I'm afraid this is out of my league." She touched the girl's cheek, feeling for a temperature, then lifted one of her eyelids only to find her brown eye rolled back, no doubt staring into a nightmare void in the unconsciousness. She gently smacked her cheeks, trying to rouse her.

"Rin? Rin, can you hear me? If you can hear me, blink!" She grabbed her limp hand and held it in hers. "Squeeze my hand Rin! Let me know you can hear me!"

Nothing. Her breath was slow and even, like she had simply fallen asleep. Her face was red and puffy from tears, no doubt shed while Koga attacked her, Kagome thought. She felt herself tear up as she wiped Rin's nose and mouth with a cool wet cloth that Sango had brought her from the hut. Miroku, Shippo and Jakken stood open mouthed, wanting to help, but also wanting to stay out of the way.

"That fucking fleabag!" InuYasha yelled. "I'm gonna rip his guts out through his mouth and his heart through his ass!" He stomped around, pacing anxiously. "What direction did they go in Sesshomaru?"

He hadn't thought that far ahead. It was unlike him to be so ill-prepared, especially over what seemed to be a minor detail. So he simply told him they fled to the east, that was the direction he had come from to get here, and so that seemed as good a made up direction as any.

InuYasha was fuming, but made himself calm down a little to speak into Rin's ear. "Rin? Can you wake up just a little, for me?" he asked. Rin continue to lie as still as a stone. InuYasha brushed away a tear. "Listen squirt, I'm going to get that rotten bastard who did this to you. I'm gonna make sure he never tries to hurt you ever again. So when you wake up, you won't have to worry about him anymore, okay?" Her still face made him uneasy. "Just keep trying to wake up, ok?" He stroked her hair gently and pulled his hand away to find it wet with her blood. He was suddenly positively seething and livid. He turned back to the hut and said, "Who's coming with me? I know three wolf-shit assholes who need to be executed!"

Miroku and Sango quickly mounted Kirara while Shippo and Jakken mounted Ah-Un.

"Wait!" Sesshomaru cried. "Leave Ah-Un, we'll need them to take us to Kaede!"

"Come on guys," Sango said as she offered her arm to help Jakken climb up. She nodded to InuYasha, who led them to the east, searching for Koga's scent.

And then finally, after many weeks and endless nights of planning and plotting and scheming and lying, Sesshomaru and Kagome were alone.

(Lyrics to _One_ property of Metallica)

Darkness imprisoning me  
All that I see  
Absolute horror  
I cannot live  
I cannot die  
Trapped in myself  
Body my holding cell

"Rin? Rin can you hear me?"

 _Yes! Kagome! I can hear you!_ she wanted to scream. _You have to get away from him! He's gone mad!_

But she could do nothing. She couldn't move any part of her body at all. If it didn't come natural, such as her heart beating or her lungs breathing, it just didn't happen. She thought about what could be the easiest movement to make; a blink, a twitch of her toes, a smile… But she laid drooling like an infant in Sesshomaru's white fluff on his shoulder. She couldn't even force any more tears out. It appeared that she was being made into a bargaining chip now that she opposed playing the dirty "game" any longer. He muttered to himself the whole way back to the village of his plans. She knew what he was going to do, and he had made sure she couldn't do a single thing to stop him or warn the others.

 _What's the point in being alive if I can't do anything? Why can't I go on to see my mother and father? Why do I have to sit in the dark and only listen?_ She wanted to cry. She was scared and in awful pain. When Sesshomaru struck her, her teeth clanged together in her mouth and she'd cracked one of her molars. Her head ached from the blow, and the cut in her skin there felt as if it would rip wide open, as it had swollen to a lump about the size of a kiwi. Her just mended broken nose was still throbbing, although that pain had dulled considerably. She was incredibly dizzy.

"Rin? Can you wake up just a little, for me?" InuYasha was speaking to her now, in a gentle but worried voice.

 _I'm trying, Uncle. I'm trying my best. But don't listen to Lord Sesshomaru! He's gone insane!_ Her brain cried out in anger when Sesshomaru told them Koga had done this to her. The very man that told her he would protect her from that evil wolf demon had bashed her head in, all because she wanted to do the right thing and stop lying to people she had come to love.

"Just keep trying to wake up, ok?" InuYasha ran his fingers through her hair, and then he was yelling for the others to help him find and eliminate the people who were innocent of this atrocious attack.

 _Uncle! Don't go! The one who hurt me is right here! You see him right before your eyes! Please don't leave me alone with him!_ And then she realized who would also be alone with him once the others had gone, and she struggled inside to breakout of this useless body and go directly into his ear and tell him in a loud voice:

_DON'T LEAVE KAGOME ALONE WITH HIM!_

But she could only listen in fear as Sesshomaru asked that they leave Ah-Un behind, supposedly so they could take Rin to see Kaede, a village priestess that Kagome was close to who could possibly help wake up the injured girl.

But as soon as it was quiet between the three of them, and InuYasha and the others were long gone on a wild goose chase, everything began to feel like a nightmare. He calmly asked Kagome to get the things she would need. Rin could feel him moving again as he helped Kagome onto Ah-Un's back. Kagome told him where to go, but he didn't listen. Instead he set Ah-Un on a course to his castle in the west. Kagome began to protest immediately, only to be interrupted by Sesshomaru, saying in his ranks he had a healer who had worked miracles in the past, and perhaps he could save the little girl.

"But Kaede is much closer, we could get her opinion and then make a decision," Kagome said.

"Yes, but I think Rin might be much safer back at my castle than out here in the backward wilderness." Rin felt him begin to tremble slightly. It dawned on her that he was nervous, and she now saw how much danger they both were in. She tried to cry again but couldn't.

_Kami, if I can't cry then I have to wake up. But if I wake up he might hit me again and this time he might kill me for sure, and maybe kill Kagome too. I've got to try hard, but be careful._

_I've got to trick_ him _now._

She tried to calm herself down and focus. The one thing Sesshomaru couldn't see or feel was her eyes. If she could try to open her eyes, she could focus enough to start waking up. It was a long way to the castle, and she had nothing else to do. And so she began to try with all her little heart to just open her eyes.

_Open your eyes! You have to open your eyes… Just open your eyes… Open your eyes…_

"InuYasha, there's no trace of them anywhere!" Sango called. They'd been going in circles in the little field of grass trying to pick up a scent or find a set of footprints or anything that might lead them in the direction of where the wolf clan went. Miroku, Shippo and Jakken looked through the grass to see if they could find the rock that hit Rin, but that was what was even more strange than the missing scent.

"Lord InuYasha," Jakken began, "there are no rocks anywhere in the grass here! If this is where Lord Sesshomaru said she was when she was attacked, then where are the rocks?"

"And where were they thrown from?" Miroku asked. "There's the cliff wall, and then there's the woods, but we couldn't find any rocks other than huge boulders, and those were deeper in, not near the edge where they would have been easy to pick up and throw." He walked towards InuYasha, who was on all fours sniffing at the relatively small grassy area. "Somehow I get the feeling we've been had."

InuYasha stopped and looked up at him. "I smell her blood, and I smell Sesshomaru's scent, but I don't smell anything else. If those wolves were close enough to damn near kill her with a thrown rock, I should have picked up their smell by now." He bent to smell again when suddenly he did catch the scent of that fleabag, but it wasn't a residue scent, it was on the wind and fresh.

"Koga's coming." Sango readied her massive boomerang, and the others anxiously awaited the inevitable battle that was going to come. InuYasha drew Tetsusaiga as Koga whirlwinded into the little glen. Upon seeing InuYasha with his sword drawn he stopped in his tracks.

"InuYasha! We have to talk, it's very, very important!"

"Keh," InuYasha scoffed, "I think the time for talking ended when you tried to kill my niece."

"What? You don't mean you actually believe that fluffy asshole?"

"He's my brother, and he told us all what your fucking wolf pack did to her once before. You came to finish the job didn't you?" InuYasha's patience was beginning to wear thin.

"No you don't understand InuYasha! Kagome told me that I should never harm another human ever again, and so I have followed her wishes to the letter! I couldn't have hurt that child anyway, not after what I witnessed." He was standing passively, showing no signs of aggression towards InuYasha. He had to make him see what was happening, and before it was too late-

"Where's Kagome?" His calm face suddenly turned to panic. "Please don't tell me you left him alone with her and the little girl?"

Sango stiffened. "Why Koga? What do you know?"

"He's laid out some kind of elaborate trap for her, and the little girl must have known something, because I watched Sesshomaru try to crack her skull open with the butt of his sword, the one with the metal end." Koga's eyes turned angry. "I started to kill him when I had the chance but I didn't want him to hit her again. He surely would have killed her with a second blow."

"You liar!" InuYasha called across the meadow. "My brother adores that little girl, he would never intentionally hurt her!"

"What do desperate people do InuYasha? They take out anyone and anything that stands between them and whatever it is that they want. The little girl knew something, so he took her out of the picture! The only reason he didn't kill her is because he loves her, but he needed her out of the way so he could get to Kagome!" He was getting angry because InuYasha, who once couldn't care if Sesshomaru lived, and tried to kill once or twice on his own, was now faithfully devoted to him. "Listen to me, he came to me telling me, Ginta and Hakkaku when you transform into your human form! Every new moon right?"

Sango gasped, and the others could only stand with their jaws dropped. Sesshomaru had sold InuYasha's secret to his enemy.

"What! How could you know about-"

"I'll tell you as we go, we have to get back to Kagome, she's in a lot of danger."

Koga and InuYasha ran side by side as they raced back to the hut, expecting to find it empty because Kagome had said for them to go to Kaede. They thought they might be in time to catch them before they left, but alas they were not in time. Koga explained to InuYasha that Sesshomaru had come to the clan village, and was basically begging for Koga to kill him that instant. He asked InuYasha about the bloody kimono, fearing that Sesshomaru was abusing the little girl, and was somewhat relieved to find that she had broken her nose herself, and not by her "father's" hand. After InuYasha picked up the direction of Ah-Un's trajectory, they learned that Sesshomaru had gone into the west, and they all guessed he had gone back to his castle. Sango and Koga compared theories and finally cracked Sesshomaru's plans.

"The only thing I can't figure out," Miroku said, "is how Rin played into it at all."

"Yes," Koga said. "Ever since I saw what he did to her I've wondered too."

"Why did he have to hit her so hard though?" Shippo cried. Even the cantankerous Jakken looked upset that Sesshomaru had harmed the kind little girl. "She might not ever wake up, Koga. She was as limp as seaweed on his shoulder."

"I have a feeling that right now his thoughts are not with her at all, he's got his prize and he's now on his way to fully indulge himself in her. InuYasha," he turned to face him, "please tell me you love Kagome as much as I do."

"Koga, I would cut my own arm off for her if it would make her happy. I love her more than anything in this world."

"Good. I have a feeling we are going to have to kill your brother in order to save her." He looked away from him, not wanting to compound the tension with an uneasy stare.

InuYasha's mind was racing as fast as he ran. The woman he had pledged himself to had been taken away from him and whisked away from the safety of Tetsusaiga and deposited into the worst possible place she could be: an unfamiliar castle that was home to a lunatic that had a super huge crush on her. "I wonder how many lies it's going to take," he thought aloud.

"How many lies?" Sango asked.

"How many lies before he finally gets what he wants from her."

They raced on, hoping to reach her before he resorted to more forceful ways of winning her heart.

_Open your eyes Rin! All you have to do is open your eyes, and then the rest will come easy. Just one if you can't open both, but you have to open at least one!_

Rin was concentrating so hard on trying to wake up that she had broken a sweat. She laid on Sesshomaru's shoulder, motionless and unable to move. She was paralyzed and blind from Sesshomaru's sudden and cruel attack, but she could still hear perfectly, and while she focused on trying to open her eyes, she listened intently to the drivel that Sesshomaru was feeding Kagome so he could win her heart.

"You know, I never cared for humans at all until I met you Kagome." Sesshomaru was certain flattery would make her fall for him. "I saw how you transformed my brother, and hoped that Rin would be able to do the same for me." His eyes stared into her hair as he took advantage to take a quiet whiff of her.

"However I think I need someone who's a little more grown up."

"Someone like you."

Kagome, who was used to people hitting on her all over the Sengoku jidai, reacted calmly. "Aww, what a nice thing to say Sesshomaru! Everyone deserves to have a special companion. Actually I thought Rin was a perfect fit for you."

Sesshomaru, who was sitting behind Kagome on Ah-Un's back, was having a hard time not touching the young miko. She was riding with him, practically blowing him off in favor for that half-breed mongrel. In desperation, he decided that she be shown that there was more than one option out there besides InuBastard.

He dug a claw into Ah-Un's side, causing them to pitch wildly to the right, almost toppling their riders into the forest canopy, which surely would have either impaled them all or left them crumpled on the forest floor after being beaten to death by the tree branches on the way down. Sesshomaru threw his arm around Kagome, catching her balance by grabbing her left breast. Once he had her situated on the saddle again, she moved his hand to around her waist. Happy that she had not pushed him completely away, he simply rode with her for a while, keeping his arm wrapped loosely around her, relishing in the warmth of her body against him and her smell right in his face.

Unbeknownst to either of them, Sesshomaru's little stunt with Ah-Un finally gave Rin enough fear and adrenaline that she was able to snap her eyes open. She could see they were high above the ground, zipping in the direction of the setting sun, as told by the shadows on the ground. She had never been to the castle, and didn't know what to expect or what to find there, but knew he would have plenty of guards and plenty of people that InuYasha and the others would have to get through, if they ever figured out to come this way at all. She could listen and she could watch, but there was still very little she could do to help Kagome. The only thing she thought she could do in this state was pray.

And so she did, and the wheel of fate turned again.


	7. Love Bites

"Lord Sesshomaru has returned!" one of his guards cried as he spied Ah-Un on the horizon. Another of the nameless guard quickly ran to ring the bells in the courtyard, signaling that the taiyokai's arrival was imminent. The castle was suddenly alive with the sounds of thousands of feet running and shuffling, making final, last minute adjustments in order to properly welcome Lord Sesshomaru home. However when Sesshomaru landed, he made it clear he wasn't interested in any frivolities.

He laid Rin on Kagome's shoulder as he moved to pull a general off to the side for a moment. "I want a triple guard to surround the grounds. We may have enemies approaching. Place the child in a comfortable bed and have one of the women tend to her. As for the young miko and I, we are to remain undisturbed. Have a platter of food brought up and then bother us no more."

The general nodded, and only asked, "Who should we be looking for, my lord?"

"No more than seven, but surely more than four. A flaming nekomata will be carrying some of them. It's just as dangerous as they are." Sesshomaru grabbed the general's arm. "Do not underestimate them. Among them is my father's other son."

The general's eyes widened. InuYasha's name was not allowed to be spoken in the castle walls, but news of his deeds had certainly come in them, and so the general said, "We shall triple the guard as you ask, my lord. Should I inform you of his arrival, should he come at all?"

Sesshomaru thought this over. Could he use this as an opportunity to fool his maiden? This could be the perfect moment to begin his deception that would drive her to him. Yes, this was the right time, and he had everything exactly in its place now.

 _No! You must not do this! She could never love you after all the lies you've told and all the deeds you've done in order to get this far!_ his heart screamed. _She'll never trust you enough to give you her heart! She's got to know something's wrong if you've dragged her all the way here! And what about our Ran?_

 _Shut up!_ his brain retorted. _You're the one who ached and cried in the night because you couldn't bear to be without her! I am the one who got her this far to please us both! Don't you think I wanted to do it without all the false pretenses? Don't you think I wanted her to love us without having to resort to this? All this work and now you want me to stop when she is finally here in our house? You disgust me with your weakness._

Sesshomaru appeared to be in great pain. The general gently asked, "My lord? Are you feeling ill?"

Sesshomaru was indeed feeling quite ill. His mind and his heart were in constant conflict with each other now. He hadn't slept in two days because they hadn't stopped bickering. He saw the women had come take Rin, and the general stood eagerly awaiting an answer. "General, inform me not. And disregard what I'm about to say." The general nodded once in acknowledgement, and Sesshomaru howled with pain as he fought with the warring parts of his consciousness. Finally, the voices of the two were silent. He turned and walked slowly to Kagome, where he lifted Rin from her and gave her gently to the women who stood ready to take her inside. Once they had departed, he put his hand to Kagome's cheek.

"My general informs me Myoga was here. He said that there was a battle between InuYasha and that piece of garbage Koga. They were ambushed in the valley near the wolves' den, and InuYasha was killed, along with the others. Koga's clan has killed all of them. I am sorry Kagome. I'm so sorry."

Kagome stood staring at him, not knowing what to do. Her entire family here was wiped out in a single blow. She was alone in this world, a world she had come to know and love, thanks to the journey she had shared with those who had passed on now.

And InuYasha… She had had little crushes on boys at school in her time, and she had been on dates before and all of that stuff associated with having a boyfriend, but InuYasha was so much more than that to her. For crying out loud she gave him the thing she could give only once: her virginity. They were finally over that awkward stage where little flirts were perceived as little insults, and they were finally able to come to terms with their feelings. Just the other night they were discussing the possibility of her being pregnant after their new moon tryst, and he had said even if the child was born human, it was his and he would marry her in her own time and then bring her to stay permanently in the Sengoku jidai, with visits home to her mother to show off the children of course.

If InuYasha was gone, then every minute she had spent here was worthless. Her heart was breaking in her chest. And here stood the reformed Sesshomaru, trying to protect her from Koga's wrath, just as InuYasha would have done. The job of keeping her safe had seamlessly passed from one brother to the next, and she was grateful.

"Oh Kami," she whispered, "They're all gone? But how could Koga take them all out like that alone?"

Sesshomaru was done with trying not to touch her, embraced her as she began to cry. "It seems the wolf bitch from the north, that Ayame, was in on it as well." He was enveloped by the smell of Kagome's hair, and like a needle freak with a freshly popped fix, he was instantly overcome with euphoria. He held her tighter as she sobbed into his chest and he felt his first tears of relief as his heart and mind were satiated. Even the sound of her wailing was music to her ears. He was beginning to feel weak in his weary muscles; she already had him completely under her spell with her mesmerizing beauty and her sweet and simple scent.

"Let us go to my chamber where we may grieve in peace." He turned to the general once more. "Triple the guard. Attack anyone who comes near." Sesshomaru then turned back to Kagome who was barely standing on her own. He bent and slid his arm under her rear and carried her like he had carried Rin. He made his way to his private rooms and began to finally relish in his victory.

They bounded across the countryside, racing against something unseen and unknown, trying to get to Kagome before Sesshomaru had a chance to hurt her or Rin. InuYasha was struggling with his regret at brushing Kagome and Sango's concerns to the side. He had told Kagome to give Sesshomaru the benefit of the doubt and accept him, because it was what she had taught him to do along time ago: be forgiving. Now he wished he had given her thoughts more weight as he thought back to their conversation they had the night he'd made love to her and she promised to love him forever. His heart thudded heavily and he was sorry he'd ever let Sesshomaru trick him the way he had.

"InuYasha, Koga, please we have to stop for a moment," Sango said as she clutched her stomach. "Just for a moment." She looked pale.

"If we stop we'll be allowing Sesshomaru more time to achieve whatever it is he has planned!" Koga yelled back to her.

"Please," she begged, "I have to stop. I must…" and she passed out on Kirara's back.

"Sango!" Miroku said as he began to shake her. "Sango!"

InuYasha slowed and then stopped as Kirara landed and Miroku pulled Sango to the ground. He splashed some water on her face and she stirred awake. "What happened?" she asked quietly.

"I was going to ask you the same thing, you were asking us to stop and then you passed out. Are you okay?" Miroku asked as he brushed her hair out of her eyes.

"Something's wrong, I think I might have gotten bit by something when we were fighting the demon earlier." She was clutching her stomach again, as if she were hurting quite terribly. "I need you to look and see if there are any bite marks anywhere. The pain wasn't so bad at first, but it seems it's getting worse."

Miroku began to examine the woman he had taken to become his bride. He started at her boots, looking for snake bites, and then he moved up to her legs where nearly any thorn or branch could have ripped her pants, exposing her skin to some poisonous plant. Not finding anything there he examined her tunic where her stomach actually was hurting and found nothing there either. He checked her arms, her wrists, her hands. He even looked behind her ears and under her chin, where he fought the urge to kiss her neck there. He found nothing at all until she turned her back to him and was sick.

As she had her head hung over a log, he noticed a tiny black spot on her spine, just below where her collar rode on her neck. He looked close and found it to be a rather large tick, and he pulled it off of her and crushed it between his nails. He looked closer at the flattened bug and saw that it was green and had a nearly microscopic spider mark on its back.

"Naraku is toying with us it seems." He showed the bug to InuYasha and Koga before he threw it away in the woods. Sango sat uneasy on the ground, still not feeling well, but at least no longer in pain.

"I think I'll be alright if I could just have a bite to eat. Does anyone have any ninja food stored away? Kagome has my share in her pack."

"Just sit tight Sango," Shippo said. "Well go get you something fresh okay?"

"We don't have time for that Shippo!" InuYasha growled as the kitsune scurried off into the woods. "Shippo! Get back here!" He was going to go after him and pound his little fox head into the ground, but Miroku stopped him.

"She's going to need her strength if you want her to fight. She can't travel the whole way with nothing to eat and then fight what is no doubt going to be a hard and laborious battle." As if on cue, his own stomach rumbled. "I won't be able to either."

"Let's get the fire going now so that we may be able to get back on our way more quickly," Jakken suggested. Koga agreed, and said that as long as Sesshomaru didn't think they were coming Kagome was safe.

"She probably thinks you're still fighting me out by that little field. We've got a little time." InuYasha and Koga each killed a rabbit and made quick work of skinning and gutting them. Shippo had gathered a sack full of berries that they could take with them, just in case Sango needed something more while they were on their way. Jakken and Miroku kept the fire roaring and had the rabbits cooked quickly, so quickly that InuYasha decided it best that they all be ready to take on Sesshomaru's armies, and he found another rabbit that he and Koga shared.

"Don't get the idea that we are friends now or something," he said as he gulped their impromptu meal down. "I'm still going to take Kagome for my wife when this is all over."

Koga merely growled at him. He didn't feel the need to push the issue while everyone's tempers were running so high. They would settle it after Kagome was safe with them once again and finally put an end to who was marrying who.

"How are you feeling, my love?" Miroku asked Sango.

"Much better now. I wonder what Naraku's fingers are doing in this mess all of a sudden." She frowned, deep in thought. "You don't think he's got something to do with Sesshomaru falling in love with Kagome in the first place do you?"

"If there's one thing I know for sure about my brother it's that he despises Naraku as much as the rest of us do. I think he would have killed himself before allowing Naraku to turn him into some kind of puppet," InuYasha said as he picked his teeth with a bone.

"If it's okay with everyone I think we should get going again," Jakken said. "I am anxious to see what is going on for myself. My lord has never mentioned anything about Kagome before, InuYasha, and I'm upset that he would keep me out of his plans."

They agreed it was time to go, and so they were off again, Koga and InuYasha running at top speed and Kirara carrying the others on her back through the air.

"Poor thing," Rin heard the smaller of the two women say as they cleaned the wound Sesshomaru had inflicted upon her with Tokijin's metal pommel. "Someone must really have had something against her."

The two of them worked her over, looking for all kinds of cuts and bruises from a fight but saw none, only the light bruise across her face from where she had stumbled over her own two feet and crashed into the ground, breaking her nose. They looked in her ears, peeled open her eyes (which poor Rin struggled not to focus on anything, lest she be found to be semi conscious). They opened her mouth and saw the cracked molar quite plainly laying in two pieces but still secure in her gums. The larger of the two women went and found some string and tied it to each piece and pulled them out, causing Rin to want to scream out in pain, but she couldn't. She could open her eyes but she couldn't do anything else. After a while, that pain subsided and eventually stopped altogether, and the only pain she was left with was her aching head and her aching heart.

Now that her hair and body had been cleaned of all the blood and dirt, they put her in a clean yet oversized kimono and laid her on a soft futon to sleep. As soon as she was sure they were gone, she opened her eyes.

Seeing at first only the ceiling and the ring of light the oil lamp threw on it, she looked out to her left and saw the door, as well as the oil lamp. She looked out to her right and saw a large painting of what looked to be the cherry trees with beautiful birds playing in them. She rolled her eyes down towards her toes and couldn't see anything, not when she rolled them up.

 _I've got to start moving again. I've come this far, I must get up and save Kagome!_ she thought determinedly. _She thinks they're all dead but they just don't know we're here. I have to keep Lord Sesshomaru away from her!_

She rolled her eyes in the direction of her hands and thought over and over again in her mind _You must move your hands, you must move your hands._ She concentrated and chanted in her mind. She felt her muscles in her arms start to come back to life. She could make her biceps twitch, and she could feel her forearms wanting to move. She felt herself straining to carry that motion down to her fingers. She found she had gained control over her breath as she heard herself grunt from her efforts.

And then, as her little hands laid neatly at her sides, she felt her left thumb begin to wiggle. That soft movement of her thumb against the cloth of her kimono inspired her to keep trying to move, and soon, her forefinger was in on the act as well. She rubbed the two fingers together, clamping them together and forcing them apart, and the trying to pull gently at the kimono. Soon the energy of all this movement spread to her middle finger, and after about an hour she could move all of the fingers on her left hand.

And for the rest of the night, Rin slowly regained her motor skills. She concentrated wile she was alone and feigned unconsciousness when someone came to look in on her. She was determined to save Kagome.

"Oh this simply won't do," he told Kanna as she showed him what Sesshomaru was doing, and then what InuYasha and Koga had planned to stop him. "Five against one?" Evidently Naraku was ignoring the almost 500 guards that Sesshomaru had put up around the castle perimeter. "I think it's time we leveled that playing field don't you?"

Kanna only looked back at him. He should have expected as much from her. "Kagura," he spoke into the darkness, "I want you to take Kohaku and the saimyosho and go to Sesshomaru's castle in the west. Make sure that only InuYasha is allowed to fight Sesshomaru. Their conflict pleases me, I don't want to see it tainted with the help of his friends. And Kohaku," he grinned, "I want you to practice with your new chain scythe on your sister."

Kagura turned and left with Kohaku as Naraku laughed and returned his gaze to Kanna's mirror. He didn't think the tick would be anything outrageous enough to stop them, but it was enough to _slow_ them. He was trying to buy Sesshomaru enough time to fully realize his plot. Trying to create a nice little scene for InuYasha to walk in on when he finally got to the castle. And if the miko knew she was sleeping with the enemy, she would beg InuYasha to kill her too for her debauchery, and then the jewel finding girl would be gone, and all the jewel shards would belong to him.

And that would mean that he could finally become a full fledged demon, and he would be able to deal directly with InuYasha and anyone else that got in his way.

Thank goodness Sesshomaru was lonely enough to come up with the idea in the first place to steal her away; it made tweaking the end result so much easier when someone else had done all the legwork.

He continued to gaze at the mirror, watching as InuYasha and Koga finally reached the castle gates.

"Here Kagome, have some tea." Sesshomaru offered her a steaming cup as she wiped at her eyes. His sitting room was the epitome of opulence. There were fresh flowers everywhere, a giant porcelain vase stood in one corner, and there were paintings in golden frames and silk screens on lacquered legs. His bedroom was just a step up from the sitting room and the bed was full and soft, and covered in silk pillows with ornate patterns and vivid colors. In fact the cushions they sat on now we're nothing to sneeze at.

Kagome took the tea and simply held the steaming cup in her hands. She was still crying over the loss of her lover and her best friends. It all seemed so surreal to her, like all of this had happened too suddenly. _How did Myoga get here so fast?_ she wondered. _We never stopped and yet he beat us here…_

"May I ask you a question, Kagome?" Sesshomaru asked quietly. She looked up at him, still crying. "What are you going to do? Where are you going to go?"

Kagome sniffed and wiped her eyes. "I guess I'll go home," she said. "I'll go home and go back to school… And if I'm pregnant I'll be a good mom to InuYasha's baby." She choked out the last part, as the thought had set her off on a whole new crying fit. Sesshomaru put his tea down and moved to sit next to her. He put his arm around her and she fell into his chest, sobbing against him. She wound her arms around him and cried as she remembered things she would miss about InuYasha the most, like his crooked smile when he was up to something, the sound of his laughter, the feel of his strong arms around her in the morning, the funny way he scratched his ears like a dog… All those things she never thought she would ever lose, and now they were gone in an instant.

Sesshomaru was as happy as he could be. He had finally gotten the girl that had stirred him all those months ago. The wind whispered through her hair and blew her scent to him that day and he was at once intoxicated. Now he sat with her almost in his lap, and he buried his face is her hair and inhaled… He kissed the top of her head, and she squeezed him tighter. His lips felt tingly with energy as he pulled his face out of her lavender and honeysuckle scented mane.

"I would like to offer my castle to you. I've grown quite fond of you and would love for you to stay with Rin and I. You would be like royalty and not want for a single thing. You'll have the full protection of my army, and you will have the love of my daughter and I." He pulled her chin up to so he could look into her eyes. "Please say you'll stay with us."

"I don't know if I can, Sesshomaru," she said as tears streamed down her face. "Everything here is going to remind me of him. Even you."

"Then let me remind you of him." He bent to kiss her on the lips, the way he had watched InuYasha do it on so many mornings when the two of them thought no one was looking.

"Sesshomaru, I-" and she felt his lips against hers, warm and gentle, and she accepted it because it was comforting. He did remind her of InuYasha in this way. She thought about the last time InuYasha had kissed her this way and she began to shake apart with the memory as her sobs began to wrack her body. Sesshomaru began to kiss those tears from her cheeks, as he ran his fingers through her hair, feeling each individual strand.

"Please stay, Kagome. Please, just for a little while." He was nearly crying himself, but not because he was sad about InuYasha's supposed death. His tears were tears of joy. He had won the game without Rin after all.

Just as Kagome had opened her mouth to give him her answer, loud shouting came from outside as the guards began to fight the enemy that Sesshomaru had warned them about, whom Kagome assumed was Koga and Ayame and their respective clans. As if this wasn't enough, Sesshomaru nearly fainted when he saw his door open.

"Hello Lord Sesshomaru. This is a huge castle."

It was Rin.


	8. Too Much Heaven on Their Minds

"Hello Lord Sesshomaru. This is a huge castle."

Rin was just barely able to move, but as soon as she was able, she crawled on her hands and knees out of the room she'd been left in. Eventually she found the strength to stand and then to walk. The shouting outside had started just as she came to the royal chamber, and she knew it wouldn't be long and InuYasha would be coming to save at least Kagome, and hopefully both of them if it was possible.

Now she stood in her "father's" royal doorway, watching his pale face grow even paler, realizing that his bargaining chip had just miraculously trudged herself down here. She was only a child, but felt rage inside. Relentless rage at over what Sesshomaru had made her do to the people she now considered friends, and what he had done to her to insure she never shared their awful secret.

"Rin!" Kagome cried as she ran to her side. "I'm so glad to see you awake! But shouldn't you still be in bed? Surely you're not well enough yet to be up."

"Yes, Rin. Shouldn't you be in bed?" With Kagome's back to him, Sesshomaru fixed Rin with a stare that could have frozen the bravest of warriors. She ignored him completely, which made him even angrier.

"Kagome, why are you crying, did Sesshomaru hurt you?" She intentionally dropped the title because she knew he was listening to every word she spoke now. The wheel of fate turned again.

"Did he hurt you like he hurt me?"

No one breathed. The only sound was that of the fire and the sound of the guards in full blown battle outside.

"What do you mean Rin?" Kagome looked into the little girl's eyes. Rin stood stoic and brave on legs that had just learned to move again.

Sesshomaru made no move. He merely glowered at the girl, daring her to speak the truth to his beloved. It was no secret that he could move as fast as lightning, and he could strike her down at any moment, but for what cost? He was going to have to play this coolly, and play the "game" a bit further.

"Do you want to tell her or should I?" she asked Sesshomaru without looking at him. "I was really upset when it happened and you seemed to be in control of yourself."

"My dear Rin, I haven't got a clue as to what you're talking about," he said sweetly. He moved towards her and she stood her ground, leaning on the door for support. He knelt in front of her. "I think your injury may be causing you to remember things wrong."

"You hit me with your sword!" she blurted out. "I told you I didn't want to lie to them anymore and then you hit me with Tokijin!"

Kagome's brow furrowed. She looked at Sesshomaru, who reached out to touch Rin, who shrank away from his hand. Rin's eyes were clear and bright, not at all the foggy and dilated ones she saw when she first examined her on Sesshomaru's shoulder. Something tickled at the back of her mind, but she couldn't quite remember what it was, only that it seemed important at the time, and now seemed important again.

Sesshomaru laughed a little. "Dear Rin, I think you've got it confused. Koga hit you with a rock. Don't you remember? And I came and saved your life?"

She looked away from him and sighed. "I remember." Rin was wearing a look of someone who had woken up from a dream. "I remember eating a melon on Ah-Un's back and you told me we were going to play a game, and I was excited because we'd never played a game before-"

Sesshomaru picked her up and told Kagome "I think you need to go back to bed Rin." He made his way down the hall with her while she continued to spout out the memory of the day he asked her to play "Trick-em-all" with him.

Suddenly she began to beat on his shoulder. "Kagome!" she yelled. "He said you were the prize if we won! You would be our prize!"

Kagome stared after the little girl, who had started to cry as she beat furiously on Sesshomaru's shoulder. "TELL UNCLE I'M SORRY! I DIDN'T WANT TO DO IT ANYMORE, SESSHOMARU MADE ME!"

Kagome felt that tickle again in her mind. What was it that she had said to him? It was the night she lost her innocence to him, but it was before they had left camp… What did she say?

_He pushed her bangs out of her face and held her cheek in his hand. "You know what I'm feeling? I'm feeling we should take a walk and enjoy this moonless night."_

_She blushed deeply and said "Kami, you know I want to._ _**I just can't help feeling like something is going to happen if I don't do something, but I don't know what to expect to happen or what to do to prevent it."** _

Sesshomaru had done something with Rin, and somehow it involved herself as well. She thought about how weird he acted around her, smelling her every time she was near him, practically kissing up to her all day long, and then today, she knew he forced Ah-Un to nearly buck them all off right over the forest just so he could cop a cheap feel. She let it slide because she wanted to get here quickly for Rin's sake. Now that Rin appeared to be better, Sesshomaru seemed to be agitated with her. What game were they playing that she was the prize?

" _Did he hurt you like he hurt me?"_

" _You hit me with your sword! I told you I didn't want to lie to them anymore and then you hit me with Tokijin!"_

And now he was whisking her away somewhere. She had to find him before he hit her again. She might not have been able to save InuYasha, but she was going to do all she could to save Rin.

Outside the castle walls, InuYasha and Koga saw that Sesshomaru had a large number of guards around the perimeter, and they had decided the only way to get to Sesshomaru was to mow them all down, even if it meant taking all 500 or so of them on.

As soon as they were within sight, the archers began firing flaming arrows.

"So it's fire they want?" Shippo cried. He leaped off Kirara's back, sending wave after wave of foxfire at them. He then split into 10 copies of himself, distracting the archers long enough for Sango to hurl the Hiraikotsu into them, bowling over all of them but two, and Koga quickly took them out.

"Blades of Blood!" InuYasha cried as he hurled the bolts towards the eastern wall, each bolt taking at least two out of the battle.

"InuYasha!" Koga cried as InuYasha decimated another eight with his Iron Reaver Soul Stealer. "We need to get inside to save Kagome! Try to find the way to get in!" Four guards rushed at Koga with their poleaxes stuck out in front of them like giant skewers. Koga dropped to the floor and kicked their legs out from under all of them, and then spun through the air with his fists flying like a top, punching each one squarely in the jaw as he flew backwards over them.

"Koga, I know this castle! Let me take him in!" Jakken shouted as he used the Staff of Two Heads to shoot flames into the faces of seven guards that attempted to surround him. They ran as the hair on their heads caught fire. "Lord InuYasha, I know the way! Follow me!"

InuYasha was busy though, tearing through a mob of guards, sixteen in fact, that figured there was strength in numbers. They thought wrong. He tried to make it an easy for himself, conserving his energy as best he could for the fight with Sesshomaru. He couldn't leave his friends (well, friends one and all except that dirty wolf Koga) to fight almost 40 by themselves. He had to get more of them down and fast.

He threw his blades of blood twice as they made their way to the courtyard. That dropped another twenty-three, Sango's Hiraikotsu took out another thirty as the guards charged into the courtyard, and though Koga was doing it with only his brute strength and speed, he managed to clear another twelve. Shippo threw foxfire when he could, and Miroku picked off the stragglers. Soon they were down to 200, and most of those were running away now.

Just as they stopped to regroup before going inside, a gust of wind blew up out of the south, and the all recognizable white feather was on the breeze.

"Oh look Kohaku! It's your sister and her miserable crew!" Kagura said as she floated down to the far side of the yard. Kohaku's eyes were blank as he stared at Sango. "What was it he said before we left?"

"He said to practice my new weapon on my sister." His voice lacked emotion, and Sango knew he was being controlled by Naraku at that point.

"Kagura, what are you doing here?" Koga yelled. "This has nothing to do with you or Naraku, so why don't you beat it?"

Kagura tittered behind her fan. "Oh, Naraku has his fingers in everybody's stew, didn't you know!" Naraku didn't want anyone but InuYasha to be fighting with Sesshomaru, and so it was Kagura's job to make sure he was the only one to go in.

Kohaku jumped gracefully from the feather with a brand new gleaming Chain Scythe. It appeared to be made of chrome, and was polished so finely Sango could see her reflection in the blade. The chain looked to be a good five feet longer as well.

"Kohaku!" she called out. "I don't want to hurt you!"

He began swinging the scythe by its chain in a complicated pattern, although to watch him do it, it looked easy. He made fluid motions with the chain and the scythe, seeming to almost dance with it, and then he threw it directly at Sango's face.

She didn't even have time to react because she had become mesmerized as she watched him twirl the weapon. She saw the gleam of the blade coming towards her and tried to bring her boomerang up to block the attack when suddenly Miroku appeared in front of her and he blocked the strike with his staff. The scythe clattered to the ground and Kohaku's blank gaze held no emotion over it. He simply yanked the chain and the scythe came back to him neatly, like a dog to his master.

"Dance of the Dead!" Kagura called as she reanimated the dead guards that lie plentiful in the courtyard. Koga and Sango readied themselves while Miroku concentrated on keeping that deadly scythe from striking anyone.

"Lord InuYasha! We need to go inside!" Jakken called out as he stood by the entry way.

"Go on InuYasha, we'll take care of this!" Koga was already in motion, taking out what he could while Sango picked up what he couldn't. "Find Kagome and get her out of here!"

Reluctant to leave, he followed Jakken inside.

Kagome followed the sound of Rin's cries down several twists and turns into a cellar at the bottom of the castle. She was sure Sesshomaru had smelled her coming even before she made her presence known, but he hadn't, and he seemed genuinely surprised to see her standing at the bottom of the steps.

"Kagome! Why are you here?" he asked her in his calm voice.

"Why have you brought Rin here? She needs to be in her bed, and all I see down here are some musty vegetables and items in storage." She coolly added, "If what she says isn't true, why go through the trouble to bring her here?"

Sesshomaru could only look at her with longing eyes, because his mind and heart had begun to quarrel again.

_You sad pathetic bastard! Kagome has followed us because we've become weak! We are exposed and weak! Powerful yokai my ass…_

_You damned fool! Rin loved us and has done nothing but stood by us, regardless of our actions and you treat her like a common dog! And what of Kagome? What must she think of someone who treats a child, a nearly_ mortally injured _child, in such a way!_

_I can give her anything she wants; she only needs to say the word and it is hers._

_Maybe what she wants isn't a thing; maybe what she wants is trust and understanding. These are "things" you can't offer her._

_Like InuYasha can? He barely understands those concepts himself!_

_But he is learning. That's one step further than you've gotten._

_He cannot surpass me! There is nothing that he can do that I can't excel in while he merely gets by! I am the taiyokai!_

_If InuYasha were to tally the good he's done in this world with his life, that number would surpass you thrice. We all know who got the better end of your father's blood here, and it certainly was not you._

_That's not true and you know it!_

_It_ is _true, and you know it!_

Sesshomaru fell to his knees with his head in his palm. He rocked slightly back and forth. The twin voices of his logical side and his emotional side were driving him absolutely insane.

"Look at what you've done to Rin!" he cried with the voice of his heart. "She gave us love and you have betrayed her!"

Rin sat in the dirt looking at him with wide eyes. Kagome didn't move, although she had planned to let Rin out of the shackles that Sesshomaru had out her in. He was speaking to himself about himself, but not in his voice. That voice belonged to someone, or something, entirely different.

"She betrayed us first," he said with the voice of his mind, "she very nearly ruined all that work! All those plans we made, she nearly threw them all away!"

"Stop, stop, stop! Sesshomaru said in his own voice. Jakken and InuYasha rounded the corner at just that moment. Kagome knew he was there. She could smell the scent of battle on him and that sickly sweet smell of blood on his hands. She looked at him with scared eyes and then looked back at Sesshomaru, kneeling in this dark and dusty cellar, warring with two halves of his consciousness and himself.

"And now look what you've done to your brother!" the voice of Sesshomaru's heart said. "You've set your guards against him, and he's either killed or scared off the entire army! All because you couldn't win Kagome honestly!" He was crying softly. "What price have you paid this day for one little dishonest kiss?"

"YOU BASTARD!" his mind screamed out. "This whole scheme was so that you could stop your endless bitching about being lonely! 'I wish I had a woman of my own', 'Why does InuYasha have everything that I want and I have everything he wants?' I at least tried to make something happen, you just sat around whining!"

"Make it stop please… I can't go on with this anymore!" Sesshomaru was now lying on his side, hiding his face in his hands. Everyone present didn't know the first thing to do for him. InuYasha joined Kagome at the bottom of the steps. Jakken stepped around both of them and unlocked Rin. Sesshomaru cried into his palm as the voices spouted out their arguments for and against having deceived everyone. Finally Sesshomaru yelled at the tops of his lungs, "INUYASHA! PLEASE END THIS!"

Rin was crying now too. She thought she was going crazy with the lies, but in reality it was Sesshomaru. He had lost his mind amid the morality of his actions and the desire to accomplish his goals at any cost.

As the voices stayed silent for a moment, Sesshomaru said, "InuYasha, you have a fine woman. She is everything a good man deserves, and you deserve her. I don't want you to forgive me for trying to make her my own. I don't want your pardon for the kiss I gave her when she was weak and pining for you.

"I want you to kill me for it, exact your revenge and end my misery."

InuYasha looked at Kagome, who was crying but nodded that this was the end that Sesshomaru needed in order to find peace. Sesshomaru took off his swords and handed them to Jakken. He couldn't even look at Rin. The pain he had caused her was too much, and he sat on the floor cross legged, awaiting InuYasha's attack.

Kagome took Rin and followed Jakken to the courtyard as InuYasha stood staring at his brother. He was waiting quietly for them to be out of danger of the Wind Scar's damage. "Sesshomaru," he said. "I'm sorry I have to do this. I really believed you had changed, and I loved the person you had become. I wish it hadn't caused you such pain."

"InuYasha, I have always loved you," the voice of his heart said. "I have been jealous of you and your good fortune for a long time. You have good friends, and a great woman. You shall be happy all of your days where Sesshomaru was miserable for most of his. I thought Rin was going to be our chance to live the life you had, but some people just can't live their life knowing they are second best."

"I am never second!" Sesshomaru's brain cried out. "Anything you do as long as you live InuYasha, I want to you to know that I could be better, do it longer, be stronger, go faster, grow bigger and surpass you in any way imaginable. Now are you going to do as we both asked you? Can you fucking kill me or do I have to do that myself as well?"

InuYasha drew Tetsusaiga. It transformed and he could see the fissure where the two demonic auras clashed against each other. As he yelled "KAZE NO KIZU!" he heard Sesshomaru yell into the wind "THANK YOU INUYASHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Sesshomaru sat bolt upright in his bed. He was drenched in sweat from head to toe, and he had bitten his lip at some point in the night because he could feel the wound there and taste the blood. He struggled to catch his breath and calm himself. He felt a stirring in the covers on the bed.

"Sesshy? You alright honey?"

Kagura. Then it was just a dream. Just a really, really vivid dream. "Oh jeez that was a bad one," he said as he went into the bathroom to wash his face and look at his lip. It didn't look bad; it would heal by the time he got up again. He used the toilet, washed his hands and face and then came back to bed. Kagura rolled to face him.

"You know, this article I read said it's common to have bad dreams like this when your child goes off to college. It's perfectly normal to feel like you are dying when they go away for the first time. At least you have three more days before she leaves, maybe you should spend some time with her." She snuggled up to him and put her arm around his waist. "Was I in this one at least?" she teased.

He thought about telling her that it was about Kagome again, but he said, "Yes, baby. It was all about Rin when she was little, and me trying to steal your heart from Naraku."

"Did we, you know, do anything?" she asked him as her fingers trailed down his stomach and then further south, finding something interesting to play with.

He sighed, safe in his own healthy mind, content with his wife. He looked over at her and cocked his eyebrow, "Yeah, you want an instant replay?"

"Sure, tell me all about it, and don't leave out any details…" She welcomed him into her arms and kissed him lovingly.

_See, I told you it would happen if you did it the right way. And we can both be free in spirit knowing that we didn't step all over everyone to get to this point._

_You're right. I'm sorry it took me so long to see._

Sesshomaru pulled back from her and recreated a part of the dream that he saw with InuYasha and Kagome, but substituted their names instead.

"And then you said 'Don't tease me Sesshomaru, if you love me then love me!' and so I pulled your legs back like this," he said, mimicking her voice, and they shared a laugh.

And Rin, who was in the room next to theirs, rolled her eyes as she slapped some earplugs in to keep from hearing Mama and Papa go at it.


End file.
